


Human at Heart

by Schreibmaschine



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Case Fic, Conditioning, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Failed Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Fluff, Gavin is a repressed science fiction fan, Graphic Description of crime scenes, Hank and Connor only appear halfway into the story, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Ken Doll Android Anatomy | Androids Have No Genitalia (Detroit: Become Human), M/M, Most androids are recalled, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, change of heart, description of negative reinforcement, drug related crime, good communication, it is a happy story dealing with dark topics, positive reinforcement, this is a healing story, use of alcohol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:06:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25049629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schreibmaschine/pseuds/Schreibmaschine
Summary: The world changed. The android revolution failed and with it androids vanished, being recalled by Cyberlife or deactivated and demolished. It is rare to see an android on the streets nowadays.Gavin Reed couldn't care less. He's got his hands full with maybe the most difficult case he ever had: Unveiling and destroying a Red Ice mafia that had built up in the city while the police was too busy with deviancy related crimes. If anything he is happy to finally have Hank and Connor out of his precinct and not having to see the tin-cans everywhere mocking him.Until his case leads him towards a lost, traumatised android who is the key to putting an end to the Red Ice trade.Unfortunately he gets a little more than he bargained for, when the android not only helps him with his case but also makes him question everything he believed to be true.
Relationships: Hank Anderson & Connor, Hank Anderson/Connor, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	1. A normal day in the life of Gavin Reed

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, thank you for clicking on this fic!  
> It will likely take a while for the second chapter to be uploaded as I want to finish other projects first. But this story as of now is written up until the eleventh chapter, so don't worry, it won't sit here on hiatus for long!  
> Hope you like and enjoy!

Captain Fowler sat in his office weighing a folder in his hand while he waited. He wasn’t looking forward to the next two to ten minutes. It could either go relatively well or end up in utter chaos depending on the mood of the person he had just called into his office. He looked through the glass casing and followed the man that made his way through the rows of desks in his hoodie. Normally, he wore a leather jacket, but it had been an unusually warm day. As he took the stairs to his door, Fowler righted his seat and braced himself for the encounter.  
‘Here it comes,’ he sighed to himself as the doors opened.

‘What do you want from me?’ the man shouted instead of a greeting.  
‘How about we begin with a “good morning”, Reed?’  
‘I don’t know if it is a good morning yet, Jeffrey. What is it?’  
‘We are heavily understaffed, Detective, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered you,’ the Captain tried to start the conversation as neutrally as possible.   
‘Yeah, is it my fault that this android-lovin’ piece a shit left?’ Gavin barked immediately on defence.  
‘Ever since Hank disappeared, we are not as effective as we have been.’  
‘For phck’s sake, it’s just one man. It is not as if the whole precinct would be empty.’  
‘Yes, Detective Gavin Reed. One man. One man that got his shit together and did his fucking job’, he looked pointedly at the man in front of him, but Gavin either didn’t get the message or rather chose to ignore it.  
‘Stop idolising him, Captain. Nobody is perfect and definitely not that drunkard of an officer.’  
‘Maybe so. But he was nearer to perfection than you will ever be! Now stop that bullshit and start listening to me! I have new input for this red ice trafficking you should have stopped over a year ago.’  
‘Yeah, I don’t know if you missed it but there was a fucking _revolution_ going on. We had other things to care about, things more important than chasing drug dealers like, for example, _staying alive!’  
_ ‘What left us with a flourishing drug network that needs to be wiped out. Now!’

Captain Fowler threw the folder on the desk in front of him to grab it.  
‘That would be all. I reckon you can read it on your own. Catch those bastards so I can spare us both from more conversation, got it?’  
Gavin took it and walked out angrily without a further word.

_That was that,_ Captain Fowler thought to himself, considering this one of the smoother meetings with the detective. _Now to the more pleasant tasks._

~

Gavin sat down at his desk and studied the new clues an informant had managed to gather. The Detective knew quite well he wasn’t really liked by anyone and most even despised him, but he wasn’t here to be friends. He was here to work and solve cases. And he was good at that. So good that it would be difficult to find a replacement, especially since Hank and wonderbot had vanished.  
The file described a possible new dealer showing up in the pool of countless unknown or untouchable persons. Most red ice dealers knew each other and during the revolution had known how to make use of the police’s occupation with the android uprising. They were militant now, a gang of their own. If someone started an attack on the so-called Network, the others would most certainly take revenge. Nothing he would risk his men for. A single dead or captive drug dealer wasn’t worth the life of even one police officer. Gavin didn’t like most of them, yes. But it was a whole new level of thinking to sacrifice someone.  
He would have to know everything about them, their shelters, their labs, their equipment. A coordinated razzia at all their little shitholes at the same time, that’s what they needed.

But maybe there was a chance with this new drug dealer. The chemicals he used had a slightly different composition to the other drugs in circulation – a sign that whoever supplied him with the drug would be using their own labs and was still independent from the network. A chance to either use their business as bait for them or to observe it quietly to unveil contact persons of the network through them. Both ways were risky, nothing was concrete enough to plan a mission yet. He had to find more information than these pieces of paper could tell him. He skimmed over the report another time. The dealer had been seen around Downtown, mostly at the parks. That was quite near to the DPD, but he seemed to have no choice with the network occupying nearly every other district. Gavin contemplated whether it was worth the effort to go and look for himself or wait for the informants to gather more. But taken into account that he had nothing else to do, he could just as well enjoy the warm October day outside while getting paid for it.

‘I’m gone birdwatching. I’ll be back later,’ he informed Tina Chen, the sole friend he had made ever since he started working here. She just nodded without looking up from her work. That’s the reason she was higher in his personal ranking than the others: No unnecessary talking.

~

Gavin had to change parks a few times, before he found a guy that fit the description. It was early evening and he began to regret leaving his jacket at home today. He had another two hours then he would be working overtime if he didn’t make it back. Nothing to worry about, he considered his working times as rather flexible regardless of how angry his boss was about it. The Lafayette Park was rather unusual for the dealer though as he had never been seen here by informants before. He didn’t meet any costumers either. He was just sitting there, muscular and a bit chubby in old-man’s clothing with a light straw-hat made of plastic that didn’t have any use other than fashion. Gavin did what a normal visitor would do, strolled past him without more than a side-look one gave complete strangers. Then he sat down on the next park bench, put his arms on the back rest and relaxed how every slightly cocky adult would have: eyes closed and occupying the whole space.  
He knew that the dealer a few meters away would be on guard and stayed in his relaxed, minimum-movement position, shifted his posture some time in as if it had become a bit uncomfortable. That man had no reason to think Gavin was a police officer. His badge wasn’t visible as he had put it into his pocket, and he had left his gun at the precinct. Few people had believed him when he had told them he was working at the DPD and those assholes had known him. With his scars he looked more like a troublemaker instead of being the opposing force.

And as predicted there was no reaction from the man except for some side eyes here and there. Gavin had to start fighting real upcoming tiredness by the time something changed. There was a pair of feet coming nearer and stopping in front of the bench next to him. Gavin opened his eyes just enough to see through his lashes but couldn’t get any details from the newcomer except him wearing something brown and having very light skin.

‘Oh, thank god you are here!’ Gavin presumed the dealer to speak quietly but relieved enough to be more than a whisper. ‘You were right! The police are after me! This person you warned me about, I have seen him observing me over the past days. I wanna join. I wanna join as fast as possible, whatever I need to do I will do!’  
The network? Was this new suspect a middleman? If Gavin changed position now or would look directly at them, he would have a perfect description of a member of the network. And most likely a gun against his head the moment they got to know he was a police officer. So, he stayed calm although he wanted to act.  
The middleman said nothing but nodded and gestured to follow. Shit. Gavin heard how they walked away from the bench and forced himself to stay back. This was the perfect opportunity to find out more and he would have to sit here.

The phone in his right hand hidden behind his body he tried to bring it to make any sound without looking so he could fake a phone call. Then he ‘woke up’ and held the device on his ear, nodded a few times and agreed to his non-existing partner before ‘hanging up’ and leaving his bench behind. He had never been a good actor but the two were far enough away not to be able to suspect anything.  
What Gavin was far better in was following persons without getting noticed. He knew the streets by heart and managed to trail them. Right at the corner of Orleans Street and Larned Street he got a message from Tina. She would leave now and had informed Fowler. Great. The Captain would be phcking pissed staying and waiting for him. But that was not his problem right now.

The slow chase ended at an old warehouse near the river. Gavin hid behind another building close to the two men and eavesdropped.  
‘I will send message to the network. You will get your men soon. We will take care of the police for you. Just make sure you can show the thing to the network producers when we meet again.’  
‘It will be a pleasure to share my work with your organisation.’ The dealer seemed to be far more relaxed now then at that bench. Gavin wondered what the two had been conversing on the way here to reassure a man that paranoid to be safe.

But he wouldn’t have the chance to ask because the next time he risked a look around the corner both men had simply vanished. It was possible that they had just entered the warehouse, but Gavin wouldn’t risk going in there alone. He had no right to after all. But that would be enough clues for a further investigation. Also, a lot safer for the informants if the dealer really had noticed them. As for himself, he would try to get back to the precinct, evade Fowler if possible and go home.

~

‘Detective Gavin Reed, if you plan on fighting the network all alone, at least take your gun with you,’ Fowler sighed as the other man had nearly made it out without notice.  
‘Worried, Captain?’  
‘No, just tired of paperwork. I don’t want to inform your family that you died because of recklessness.’  
‘Nah, you won’t need to, believe me.’  
‘You still have a brother, right?’, Fowler asked, leaning against a wall.  
‘Yes, but he wouldn’t give a damn about me. What’s up with this family bullshit all of sudden?’  
‘Nothing. Found something?’  
Gavin nodded. ‘I will finish the report at home. I’ll give it to you tomorrow morning.’  
‘Find yourself a woman, goddammit. You can’t be married to your work and it would certainly spare me from constantly having to put up with your bullshit.’  
‘Come on, you like it,’ Gavin teased. ‘Also, sorry, but a woman is out of the question anyways.’  
‘Whatever. But no, I definitely don’t like it. Get a life, man.’

It was already dark outside – normal for the season but not yet common after the long days of summer – as Gavin came home. It was just a small apartment reasonably near to the precinct. He could have afforded something bigger or at least a little more comfortable but why should he? He was alone and didn’t need much space. Even what he had now sometimes felt too big and empty, but his cats needed enough space.  
‘Hey fatty!’ he greeted his just slightly obese orange tabby that definitely didn’t deserved that name. She instantly rubbed her face at his legs but complained furiously as he picked her up for cuddles. ‘Come on, I know you are hungry, but you could put up with me for two minutes being your damn can-opener.’ She seemed to disagree strongly, and Gavin dropped her before she could put her wounded pride into actions.  
‘At least let me put off my shoes,’ he demanded, his cat accepted the compromise and trotting into the kitchen. ‘By the way, where’s Terminator?’ He asked casually although he knew perfectly well, he wouldn’t get an answer. He ignored the betrayed meow from the kitchen as he walked past the door to the living room. ‘There you are.’ The grey tomcat lifted his head but otherwise didn’t move one bit from where he lay. ‘It would be nice to be greeted, you old ball of fur. Come, get your food your highness.’ The tom stood up and stretched what seemed exaggeratedly slow before he jumped down from the cat tree and followed Gavin slowly and sublime.

After he fed the little beasts, he showered, wrote his report and watched some non-standing out action-movie he nearly fell asleep to midways.

~

The next day was uneventful. He slept in, making up for the overtime yesterday, dropped his report at an infuriated Fowler’s desk and went back to his own writing emails to brief the informants of the new strategies.

It occupied him for a few hours. After that there wasn’t much to do. He went to the breakroom, annoyed some of his colleagues with his presence, took his coffee and went back to his desk. He rearranged his papers, archived his files and checked his emails again. Half an hour had passed. ‘Phck!’ Gavin cursed under his breath. It was a rare occurrence – normally he was so busy he worked through his break and stayed long beyond his normal shift without even noticing it. He liked it far better that way. In an attempt to occupy his thoughts, he tried reconstructing the conversation he had spied upon yesterday. _You will get your men._ Hostages? Guards for the labs? He couldn’t be sure. _We will take care of the police._ Gavin should have warned the informants more straight-forward. Because that message was phcking clear. Or was it meant more generally? He had said _the police_ not _those informants._ But would they really dare attacking the police openly? They were not the Mafia after all. Unless they already had that power without the police knowing yet? After all they were armed and had enough men. Still, Gavin deemed it too unlikely to really take into consideration. Maybe all they had meant with that was to keep their new member from harm should the police act on him.

But there had been something more that man had told the dealer. _Show the thing to the network._ Show what? Did they have weapons stored there? If that was the case, what kind could it be? Or was it just their laboratory? Maybe they wanted to know what procedure they used for the drug synthesis. That was plausible at last. But Gavin wouldn’t find out the truth by guessing based on a few hushed sentences. His gaze wandered to the clock. Five minutes. Why did time just crawl so terribly slow today?

The day had been extraordinarily boring, but he managed to stay from another reckless manoeuvre. Fowler accepted only one per week, that he knew from experience. But his frustration did his temper no good and his colleagues had to put up with it. The only thing he missed ever since Hank had left was that he and his plastic puppy were so easily annoyed and sometimes even fought back. It would have been a nice change to the angry silence the others gifted him with.  
But he had somehow managed to hold on until just half an hour held him from his cats.

Then the message came.

One of the informants had observed the warehouse right away and had found out that the Network would inspect it this Saturday. Today was Friday. That was phcking tomorrow. There was not even the time to plan an intervention. That was never going to work. He sent the email to Fowler hoping he would have already worked out a strategy beforehand. Although he would surely miss his free weekend at home.

A few moments later the Captain called him into his office. ‘Good work on the case, Detective Reed,’ He greeted him.  
Gavin ignored the praise. ‘What will we do now, Captain?’ He asked instead.  
‘We will do nothing.’  
‘What?’  
‘What the hell could we do? We don’t know what’s in this warehouse. Could be crates, could be a little private army. I can’t work out an intervention plan with this little intel.’  
‘So we are just sitting here, doing nothing, while the Network gains another laboratory, dealers and men. We are allowing a Mafia to build up here. Where is the justice in this?’  
‘For fucks sake, Reed. I’m not happy about it either but stop bitchin’. When we strike and get overwhelmed, they will think they have a weak opponent that can’t stop them. They will think they’re invincible and attack us openly. I can’t let that happen and I won’t lose any of my men for it.’  
Gavin looked at him in pure anger, but Fowler held eye contact.  
‘That includes you,’ he added. ‘Don’t act on your own again, understood?’  
‘But-‘  
‘No! That. Was. An. Order. Now just get out of here!’

When he finally got home, he cursed the hell out of that place. He had stopped thinking about his neighbours a long time ago. Now that it was only him and his cats, he cursed Fowler, that idiot Hank and the whole DPD. After that he felt better. Good enough to understand that Fowler had been right about pretty much everything regarding that warehouse. But also, not enough to simply be a submissive little officer and do nothing as Fowler had told him to. He simply wasn’t the man for that. Screw these orders. He had ignored them before, and he would do so again if that was what stopped this phcking Network.

~

The next day at work was unusually pleasant for his co-workers. He held himself from hissing at them too much and tried to be compliant about the whole thing yesterday. Of course, that didn’t convince the Captain at all.  
‘Where are you going?’ He asked from the break room as Gavin slipped past to reach the exit.  
‘Just taking my break early and enjoying the weather outside.’  
‘It’s raining cats and dogs out there,’ He reminded the Detective.  
‘Well, I like the rain.’  
‘Oh shut up. If you only just think about going near that warehouse you are fucking suspended.’  
But Gavin was already out of the door on his way to the warehouse district.

The warehouse stood there as it had been two days ago when he had first seen it. One could think it was abandoned but there were tracks of tires in the dirt that had left only recently. The informant had news for him this morning regarding the meeting. It would start at 01:00 PM, now it was half past twelve. He would have to find a place to hide from where he could spy on anything happening.

He found such a place a few metres away behind some nets and buoys, remains of maybe the former inhabitants of the warehouse that actually used it for its intended purpose. It was not the best place to hide but he doubted anyone would suspect the police to intervene at all considering how they never even once managed to intercept anything.  
But not today. He knew he alone couldn’t prevent the Network to gain more power today. But maybe he could identify one of their men, get more intel or anything that could finally bring a little more light into the research about the Network.

A transporter rolled onto the areal and parked near the warehouse. Gavin committed the license plate to memory, although it most likely was either a fake or stolen. Around ten men got out of it, could be twelve at maximum. They didn’t say a word and got into formation by themselves, forming a leading group out of three and a supporting little army in their back. The leaders approached the warehouse and knocked on the front door, the people in their back raising their weapons. Gavin checked his own pistol, although he had no chance against them should he be spotted.  
The door was opened, something was said. But they spoke low and the noises from the river were enough to cancel them out. Gavin stopped himself from moving further towards the warehouse. He needed to be careful this one time.  
A few moments passed before they entered the warehouse and from the way the door had moved Gavin suspected, it might be still unlocked. He waited and looked around. No cameras, no guards. It would have been to suspicious maybe. A normal warehouse didn’t need that much security. As he was sure not to be spotted right away, he darted across the lot and stopped at the door, listening for footsteps inside or spoken words. He didn’t know what was inside. He could end up in a hall with all eyes on him. He could be disguised because it was full of crates and maybe chemical equipment. It was a risk, but he guessed to be out quicker than they could shoot him standing directly at the door.

He opened it just the tiniest bit and slipped past. It was dim inside the hall that was thankfully not that big, but Gavin immediately found it was also not the easiest to stay hidden in: There were walkways around different compartments that were separated by shelves with all kinds of material inside. Some still had nets, buoys and spare parts for ships inside, others were home to a little armoury. In between there were all kinds of stations for the drug production. Neat packs of the red crystals ready to sell together with packing material and several loose portions ready to be wrapped up. The compartment was empty, so Gavin slipped in and put one of the packages into his pocket, careful not to leave any fingerprints. In the next one stood a few people. Gavin listened in hoping to find out from the conversation whether these people were staff or one of the Network-messengers.  
‘God, I hate it. I feel trapped.’  
‘Shut up, it’s safer that way. If we never see someone from the Network, we are no danger to them.’  
‘Yeah, well, I can’t work like this. I need to have my stuff and some music.’  
‘Stop whining. These people are not to be taken lightly. We are not yet under their protection, you know that!’

So, even the people that wanted to join them were afraid. Did they really have this kind of power already? Gavin wanted to listen in more, but someone was coming his way, he heard the footsteps on the walkway. Phck. There was nowhere to run to. He looked around and ended up pressing himself in between two shelves standing motionlessly in the dark. Would someone look out for him he would be an easy target. But no one knew he was here. And no one had heard him so far. If he managed to stand still, he might stay hidden. The person came nearer, nearer, nearer – and passed. Gavin waited some more before slithering his way back to the walkway. He hurried past the different compartments looking into them whenever that was possible. It seemed the process began at the end of the hall and ended at the door. The farther he came to the back of the warehouse the more raw educts he found. This warehouse seemed to be laboratory, facility and distribution in one building.

He finally reached the point where the ingredients were no longer a powder but liquid and blue. Long tubes led to tanks and boilers. But what he searched for he couldn’t find: the whole group from the network. Where were they? He found a room adjacent to the hall that housed a staircase down into a cellar. He thought about it for a while. Should he risk it? This was likely the only way in and out. And he didn’t know whether he could hide down there. The decision was taken out of his hands as someone came up the stairs. Quickly he darted across the room and hid on the other side behind another shelf.  
There were a lot of people coming up now.  
‘Your Laboratory would be a perfect addition to the network,’ one of them, likely one of the leading group from before announced.  
‘Ah, that’s very good to hear.’ A relieved man.  
‘You misunderstood me,’ the network-messenger clarified. ‘I said “would”. You would have to meet some qualifications before we can allow you to join.’  
‘Oh. I thought you… Nevermind. We will do as the network pleases. Just tell me what we should do.’  
‘The robberies need to stop. It is too easy to track for the police. You need to get your Thirium from somewhere else. This is the most pressing issues. We could deal with the rest once we formed the union.’  
‘But Thirium isn’t as easy to get. We can’t buy it and we can’t synthesize it. What you are expecting is too much.’  
‘The Network can synthesize it. You have no need to continue the way you have made it so far.’  
‘That would take away our independence!’ the man disagreed filled with indignation, possibly before even realising what he had said there.  
‘The Network offers security in a time where the police begins to recover from the android revolution. How long do you think to stay _alive_ when they already know about this warehouse and your practise inside? If they get to know you refused to join the Network, they will end your little laboratory faster than you can contact us again. I would think about it very carefully before refusing.’  
There was silence. Gavin shifted to see through the gaps in the shelf. Maybe if he could get a look at the network-messengers…

There were two men approaching his position from the other side. From his escape route. Phck. Hopefully they would just walk past him.  
‘I won’t join the Network under these conditions. We have to get Thirium the way we do know. Our whole procedure is adapted to it. We won’t give up our system just so we could be loyal to your Network!’  
The two men came nearer, and it didn’t seem as if they planned on passing this compartment.  
‘That truly is unfortunate. Are you sure you won’t change your mind?’  
The two were faster than Gavin would have expected and before he could do anything he had a hand pressed at his mouth and two restraining his movement until one of them whispered into his ear: ‘Gavin, you absolute asshole. Fowler will kill you for this! The whole building is stacked with explosives the Network has planted outside while you were playing hide and seek in here! We need to get out, now!’  
The two were officers from the precinct, their disguise nothing more than a thick jacket above their uniform. Miller and Collins! Gavin looked at them perplexed before realising how dangerous the situation was. The Network planned on blowing this whole facility up should they refuse to join them. And they wouldn’t wait for the staff to leave the building. He got up and nodded towards the two policemen.

They tried to be quiet on their way back but also concentrated to be fast, so there were some surprised calls from inside the compartments and hallways. But the trio didn’t care. They wouldn’t shoot in their own laboratory risking damage and most of them just heard the noise of their shoes and couldn’t see who was running out there.  
They reached the door and ran outside sprinting across the lot to a car that stood in an adjacent street. They jumped in and Gavin watched as the two started the ignition.  
‘What are you doing here?’ Gavin asked, seriously surprised.  
‘More like what the hell are you doing here?’ Collins hollered. ‘It was a direct order to stay away from the warehouse. And you still went there, even infiltrated it.’  
‘Yes, and found out more than you phckers found out in ages!’ Gavin defended himself. ‘One has to take a little risk to achieve something.’  
‘You could have gotten yourself killed. Those men wouldn’t hesitate.’  
‘But they didn’t, did they? I was not seen and am still alive.’  
‘Because we risked our asses pulling you out of there before the bomb went off!’  
Gavin said nothing. What could he even say? They were right. He could have died in there, not that he cared about that. But he couldn’t tell them that.

‘We are not driving to the precinct, do we?’ He asked after a few ignored turns.  
‘Fowler set up an ambush for the network. We try to lose eventual followers and drive back again to observe the warehouse. We should have coordinated the other teams originally. And we will get back to that task, so I hope you won’t interfere any further.’  
Who did they thought they were talking to? Well he did phck up some other’s mission, but he hadn’t known about it. He began this whole rouge action thinking Fowler let the network slip another time. So was it really his fault?

As they returned to the warehouse, the messengers already stood outside, their leaders speaking with an exasperated drug-dealer. Again, he was too far away to hear anything, but the conversation ended in the Network climbing into their transporter and driving off, leaving the other men standing at the front door.

Gavin looked at the warehouse now standing there in utter silence. ‘Why didn’t we thought about trying to defuse the bombs?’ he asked whilst crouching next to the other two.  
‘We didn’t know there were any.’  
‘And what about evacuating the building?’  
‘Not possible without the network noticing.’  
Collins wasn’t as communicative and sent out a radio message to the other teams ab. They seemed not to be too happy having to endure Gavin on their mission – something they had in common with the whole precinct and the Detective had grown accustomed to.  
‘So we are just watching as multiple persons die. Persons that could have helped us as witnesses as well as sources of information.’  
‘Exactly. We couldn’t plan out a regular intervention. Maybe if someone took their job a little more seriously…’  
Gavin was about to get angry and do something he would regret later in front of Fowler when he had to justify his actions once again. But updates from the radio stopped him in his tracks. The trap was about to snap shut as the police began to encircle the transporter that was driving somewhere far away from them. Gavin sat back down, and they listened while the officers reported how they encircled the hostile transporter with their own cars. They listened, watching the warehouse.  
The cars had successfully caged the transporter and forced it to slow down to a hold. They heard how they announced over a speaker that the Network-messengers should come out and that no one was to be hurt as long as they kept it civilised.  
Silence.

Then chaos.  
It was difficult to pick up anything from the radio’s various screamed orders and the sound of metal crashing into metal, because it was overshadowed by the noise of a giant explosion near the three police officers. The warehouse was covered in a cloud of dust before giving in, falling over and crushing the chemical Anlage under it. Flames began to rise, and some heated liquids sprayed out of a broken tube over the whole back. Everyone that had been in there had to be dead by now.  
Gavin wasn’t the most passionate about his fellow men and women. But he had to swallow hard at that sight. They were criminals and most likely led hundreds to their death with these drugs but still – they could have been saved.  
It was ghostly silent, only the police radio broadcasting.  
‘They managed to escape. Need support for a chase. A network backup truck rammed the first few cars out of the way for them. A few officers hurt, none critically.’  
‘How is it at the warehouse?’ That was Fowler.  
‘They detonated the bomb and destroyed it,’ Chris reported. ‘Otherwise no activity. We will leave now and come to your aid!’  
‘I will stay and look for survivors,’ Gavin intervened.  
‘Acknowledged,’ came from the speaker. ‘Wait, Reed?’  
‘Don’t ask,’ Chris sighed. ‘He’s already gone.’

Gavin had run off before the Captain could take back his okay. Maybe there still was someone alive they could take with them. Any witness. He was phcked would he return to Fowler, having disobeyed orders, endangering the other two officers and then not even return with some valuable input.   
‘Someone there? Anyone still alive and can hear me?’ He climbed at some debris and called over the rubble. He tried to remember where the compartments had been and where he had looked out for people. He repeated his calls but never got an answer. He had not expected an answer. As the men inside had said before, there hadn’t been many at the warehouse today. It wasn’t very likely to find someone still alive. He climbed over the remains of the hall until he reached the end. He was looking for something specific now. The arch that had led to the stairway was still intact. Maybe the cellar was, too. He searched for some way in and without telling anyone what he was about to do, he slipped in between two plates that had been the roof once.

He landed in darkness on some stairs and thankfully was able to keep his balance. He searched for a switch for the lights but even if there was one it would be a bad idea using it. Who said the power supply was still intact? That, together with unrefined drugs and maybe stored chemicals was a risk too much. So, he took out his phone to bring a bit of light into the darkness. But the display wasn’t enough to shine out the whole room. The shadows had claimed everything outside of the little cone of light and refused to give it away. Gavin recognised a bunch of tubes hanging from the roof over his head and followed them deeper into the cellar. He lifted his phone higher and stopped as something rustled. He reflexively turned off the phone and stood in utter darkness. ‘Hello?’ he asked into the room but got no answer. He couldn’t even hear someone else breathing. Maybe the room wasn’t as stable as he had thought. There it was again! He switched his light back on and got nearer to where the noise was coming from.  
Was this some kind of cage? The tubes ended here and led into a box that consisted of metal bars and was around a metre high and wide. Gavin knelt down and looked into it. There was someone sitting in there – a man. ‘Hey, everything alright, Sir?’ Gavin asked but got no answer. Not even a reaction in any way. Was this person dead? Why would theses drug-dealers have a dead body in a cage? Gavin reached in between the bars and wanted to check for a pulse, as the prisoner flinched away. So, he was still alive. Gavin’s hand brushed over the others arm and that man was phcking cold! There was a sound again, the man inside was shivering.  
‘Hey, I’m not one of them, I will get you out of here!’ He tried to be convincing although he wasn’t exactly good at comforting someone. It was easier for him to get people in a situation where they would need comfort afterwards. He searched for a lock on the cage, but found it already broken. Why had the person inside not tried to get out already? Did he know there was no lock? Gavin opened the door nonetheless and held out his hand. ‘You can come out now, it’s safe. I’m from the police.’  
Still no movement. ‘Come on now, everything will be alright. I can get you out of here.’ The person made no effort to come towards him and shook his head.  
‘Listen here,’ his voice got sharper and it was difficult not swearing at whoever sat in there. ‘I don’t know how long this cellar will stay intact, so I would appreciate us both leaving this place alive. And I’m sorry if this is without consent but I will take you with me now.’

He grabbed the arm of the prisoner and pulled him out of the cage. He was surprisingly heavy and still so damn cold. The other stumbled to his feet and started shivering again. Gavin took his jacket hesitantly and laid it across the prisoner’s shoulders. What on earth had those drug-dealers done to that human to get such a result?  
‘Right, now follow me.’ Gavin walked a few steps, checked whether the man still followed him and found that he still stood where he left him. Until now he had forced himself to be calm and play the helpful and friendly officer. This now set an end to it. He rushed to the person, grabbed him by his own jacket and pulled him after himself, forcing the other to climb up until they were out in the open.

Gavin looked out for the two officers waiting at a safe distance, now talking to the crime scene unit. Well, there wasn’t much evidence to secure for them. Still faced towards the group he spoke to the now free prisoner that he had let go of. ‘I’m sorry I was rough with you, Sir. I am not the best for the job, so would you mind waddling to those people standing there? They call an ambulance for you and might have a few questions.’  
That was when he turned around and looked into the face of the man. He froze when he looked into a too familiar face.  
‘Connor?’ He asked shocked and couldn’t believe his eyes. Couldn’t be. The android had left with Hank long ago. But it looked every bit like the tin-can.

Twelve years after the revolution had failed and most of the androids were deactivated and scrapped for parts, one of these phcking tin-cans stood right in front of him.

And looked as if it had not understood a word.


	2. Unwelcome followers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter Gavin faces the consequences of his actions... And a new roommate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter: Gavin disobeyed his superior to investigate a warehouse and rescued an android from its ruins.

In the following week Gavin was too loaded with work to really think about the consequences of his actions. The crime scene unit had found so many little bits of information that he could have analysed the clues for at least another two weeks. The Network had been in contact with the warehouse for a while, meaning phones and laptops found on the premise contained information of where to sell their drugs not to interfere with them, names of contact persons and money transferred in between both parties. Suddenly there was so much information on a case that had laid motionless without any real progress for weeks.  
The android had been checked. It had never belonged to anyone and it was unclear how the criminals managed to get it. It wasn’t really helpful either, as it didn’t speak. They had brought it into a cell unsure what to do about it and maybe hoping the situation would change with time. But after the first week there were no changes recognisable and the intel, they had gathered without it was enough to at least arrest one of the Network-members once they found him. The android was useless.

To Gavin’s relief at least his actions seemed to have been forgotten. Or so he had thought:  
‘Reed! To my office!’  
Gavin looked up from the work he had happily drowned himself in to watch the back of Captain Fowler’s broad statue head for his office. The man never was so monosyllabic in his speeches. Gavin immediately knew he had fucked up big this time. He left his desk without delay. He remembered what Fowler had said before he had practically run out of the precinct and it sure as hell didn’t seem like he was getting a raise. He followed short, ignoring the looks of some of the other officers on him.  
He entered the glass cubicle and for the first time in his career stood silently before Fowler, who had leaned on his fancy office chair instead of sitting down.  
‘You are goddamn, stupid, you know that, right?’  
Gavin opened his mouth but quickly shut it again.  
‘I specifically told you not to go to the warehouse on your own. It was a direct order. But you went anyway.’  
‘Well, it brought us quite the advantage, didn’t it?’  
‘No it didn’t!’ Fowler shouted not even bothering to hide his anger. ‘It pressed us to advance with a half planned out mission, it let the network see our incompetence and made us the main target now that we acted against them. And we have basically nothing!’  
‘It is not my fault your plan didn’t work’, Gavin defended himself.  
‘No, but what should I have done? Let them kill you? I don’t want to have that on my conscience!’  
Gavin didn’t know what to tell him. He hadn’t phcking known of any mission, if he had, he wouldn’t have advanced on his own. He didn’t see how he would be responsible in any way.  
‘Detective, I have to suspend you. You already stressed your boundaries far beyond what I would have allowed any other officer.’  
‘What?’ Gavin’s mouth went dry very quickly. ‘How the phck would I deserve that?’  
‘Repeatedly ignoring direct orders from your superior. Repeatedly getting others in danger without even thinking about them. Being just a general damn asshole towards suspects, witnesses and your colleagues to the point where we would need a new word for the meaning of uncooperative. Do I need to fucking continue?’  
‘That can’t be enough to suspend me! Just because people don’t like my attitude!’  
‘But I can suspend you for disobeying direct orders and interfering with police operations. This isn’t the first time you pulled that stunt and my patience has finally run out.’  
Gavin’s blood ran cold. He had known he had always balanced at the edge of his limitations, but he had never thought to one day get suspended for it.  
‘Listen, Reed. I like you. I like how you think and how you are willing to do anything to get results. But enough is enough. I don’t need any heroes or super-detectives in my precinct. I just need everyone to do their job and get home alive at the end of the day. And you do your job extraordinarily good. But I can’t let that be your free ticket to do what you want. I will suspend you for five days. Please, let that be a lesson for you and try to learn from it. I don’t expect you to be the model-officer when you come back, but just try to think about it, okay? You would be a loss for the team regardless of your personality would I have to fire you because of your bullshit.’  
Gavin stood in front of the man trying to process what he just heard.  
‘You are dismissed, Detective. Your suspension begins tomorrow.’

Gavin slumped down at his desk, trying to focus on his work again just not to think about the judgement that had just fallen onto him. He knew there were still eyes on him, just waiting for a breakdown or a violent lash-out. Waiting for some kind of entertainment when the most hated man of the precinct would be thrown out, even if just for a short time. But he wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. He would just work on and then go home to his cats. He could have a breakdown there.

The day went on and regular work shift ended for him. He stayed for a little while longer to wait until most of the crew had already gone home. Half an hour after his work was officially over, he stood up, packed his things and took most of the coffee he had brought for the break room with him. No way these phckers would drink his damned life elixir when he wasn’t there.  
‘Reed! Take your android to Cyberlife on the way home, will ya?’  
Gavin shot the Captain a look that could kill but went to the holding cells. His efforts to get more intel on this drug-laboratory was worthless, the damned android he had thought to be a human apparently couldn’t speak and now he should take out the trash. At that moment he seriously thought about handing Fowler his papers and quitting for good. But he couldn’t. He remembered Fowler’s words. And although they hurt, they were right. He wasn’t able to do anything else despite police work.

‘Hey, tin-can’, he spoke to the air as he opened the holding cell. ‘I’ll take you back to your maker. The time of androids is over. Sorry, but you lost your petty revolution. You are just machines, and obsolete ones too.’ The android looked at him as if there was nothing between his ears that could make any sense of his words. Maybe that phcking machine was damaged. It didn’t speak and seemed to be even dumber than Gavin’s mobile-phone.  
‘You heard me, toaster? You will phcking follow me!’ The android stood up and looked at him with big eyes. It was difficult not seeing Connor in him although there were some subtle differences. They had the same body, a similar face, but some details were too different to mistake them. Gavin stared at the thing, clinging to a familiar leatherjacket that was laid over its shoulders. Gavin had totally forgotten to take back his clothing from the android since he had given it to him a week ago. Well, when he brought the machine back to Cyberlife for deactivation and dismantling he would get it back.  
He practically stormed out of the precinct very aware of the weird plastic steps following him short and the remaining shift’s eyes on him, laughing at him probably. Well, phck them. This was unpaid vacation just for show. In a week he would come back and continue his work, regardless of what advice these ever so clever idiots wanted him to follow.

He sat in his car and faster than he wanted to allow himself he had zoned out, letting his instincts drive rather than his active mind that was occupied with other things or slept. Gavin wouldn’t know. It wasn’t until he reached the last red light before his apartment-complex that he realised he’d forgotten to take the goddamn machine in the passenger seat to Cyberlife. Contemplating whether he should change lanes like the asshole he was and drive all the way back to belle-isle, the light turned green and he thought to himself _phck it._ If the precinct wanted him to do the job, they shouldn’t have suspended him. Also, the DPD wouldn’t be able to get the compensation money and with no real owner of this android it wasn’t theft. His laziness wouldn’t hurt anyone. Gavin would let the android go, once he reached his apartment. At least some teenager could have their fun with it, painting it some new eyebrows or beating its head in. Gavin couldn’t care less. He just wanted to be home watching some mediocre movie to drown his thoughts out.

He parked the car messy as always in front of the building and got out, nearly getting caught by a car coming from behind him. ‘Phcker, watch the goddamn street!’ he barked after the driver passing him well knowing he should have watched as he exited the car. He went around the car to the sidewalk, looking at his car and the seemingly braindead android still sitting motionlessly in the passenger seat, eyes staring into the nothing in front of it. He could just leave it there to take to Cyberlife the next morning. Nah. He would sleep in tomorrow. Not leave the house before midday. Some neighbour would knock to ask about it, someone could trash his car just to steal it, someone could call the police and Gavin couldn’t stand seeing one of these jerks again.  
He opened the door to the passenger side and waited. All that happened was that the android now looked at him. Waiting. ‘Get a phcking move on!’ Gavin shot at the machine. ‘Get your ass out of my car!’  
The android got out and stood beside him waiting for the next command. ‘What are you? A phcking Commodore?’ If the machine understood it didn’t show it in any way. ‘Goddamn it, get lost. Phck off!’  
The android didn’t move. ‘I don’t need you, tin-can. And driving all the way out to Cyberlife just isn’t worth the effort. So whoo, you are free now, now go where you want to.’

The android didn’t move, just blinked once, maybe for the first time since Gavin had been around the thing. Gavin looked at the android expectantly. After a few moments of the two just standing in front of each other, staring, Gavin let his hands fall and sighed exasperated. ‘Ok, phck it, I did what I had to.’ He turned around and searched for his keys to open the door. He went up the stairs to his room, fumbled for the next key and put it in the lock as he saw a motion from the corner of his eye. He looked behind him, stumbling back towards the door in shock. ‘Jesus phcking Christ!’ Before him stood the android, expressionless, motionless, silent and far too close for comfort. ‘The- The hell are you doing here?’ No answer. ‘You are a phcking creepy machine, you know that? Say something, goddamnit!’ Nothing. ‘You- You know what, I don’t care. Just stop following me. Get lost, idiot.’ The android didn’t move, and Gavin started to remember the time where he had still watched good movies, especially the flicks about android uprisings in a time where no one expected them to become true. Together with the crime scenes he had seen throughout the revolution suddenly something cold settled in his stomach. ‘Phcking terminator’, he muttered to himself and hurried to turn the key in the lock. He opened the door just enough to slip through, closed it behind him and locked it again, heavily panting and leaning against it for balance. He waited for himself to regain composure and moved away. Through the frosted glass window in the door he could still see the dark silhouette. That damned machine still stood there. Well eventually it would lose interest and phck off. Hopefully.

‘Bwrr?’ Gavin’s eyes shot from the darkened glass to the ground where Fatty strolled around his legs. ‘Sorry, I know I’m late’, he apologised and moved to the kitchen to give the cats their food and escape the creepy shade in the Hallway at the same time. He watched them eat and bicker for the bowls as they usually did, before he himself looked into the Fridge. Some leftovers old enough he wouldn’t even entrust them to his bin. Frozen pizza it was then. He put it into the oven, fetched the least dirtied plate from all the others sitting in the sink just begging to be washed before they met a similar fate as the leftovers and set it next to it. He went back to the living room to scroll through his movie collection. Goddamn, anything to distract him from his most recent fuck-up. Maybe one of the better ones. He ignored his longing to watch one of the classic science fictions he had always enjoyed so much. He wouldn’t be able to appreciate them after what had happened. He sighed deeply as the pizza was ready and he hadn’t found even one phcking movie to watch. He scooped it onto the plate, went back to the couch evading the cats and picked up one of the _Die Hard_ movies. Normally he watched them to get him in the Christmas mood but oh well. No androids, a good story and just enough explosions and shooting scenes to lull him to sleep, both cats blocking him from standing up to change clothes and go to bed properly.

~

He awoke to his usual time to go to work. Although he didn’t have to. He stretched, cursing heavily as he moved his aching back. The folds of his clothes had left deep furrows in his skin and he was eager to get up and change into something more comfortable. He stood up, one foot slamming down onto the plate from yesterday evening that still stood there. It clashed unnaturally loud in the early morning hours and he heard the scratching attempts of escape of his two cats, awakened by the sudden noise. ‘Phck!’ He picked it up and practically pushed it in between the rest of the dirty plates before cleaning his foot and getting changed. It was as he walked out of the bathroom that he faced the hallway and saw the human shaped shadow he had completely forgotten about. This couldn’t be. Had this phcking machine stood there _the whole night?_ Had his neighbours seen it? Well they were used to weird things and weirder persons coming and going at his place. But this could even be a new high for him. He shook his head and moved to the kitchen to make some coffee and clean the cat’s bowls and litter boxes. All the care he didn’t grant himself he put doubled into them. They were unlucky enough to be picked up by a human failure like him, he always thought. It was then that he realised he would need more food for them soon. There went his plan of not going out at all today. He leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen, eyeing the door and the shadow. ‘Goddamnit’, he sighed, rubbing his face. He should have brought that machine back to Cyberlife. He had no phcking patience to deal with a clingy, broken android.

Well. He wouldn’t let that thing stop him from getting groceries. He stood in front of the door, bracing himself and opened it to the still expressionless face. ‘Phcking androids’, Gavin muttered and moved past it to lock the door behind him.  
‘Err… Mr. Reed?’  
Gavin looked up to see his neighbour. ‘I know, it’s not my place to ask, but what is it with the android?’  
‘I don’t know, man’, Gavin deigned to answer the stranger, a rare occasion. ‘Damn thing follows me around since yesterday. Thought it would leave overnight.’  
‘Damn. That’s creepy.’  
‘You don’t say.’ Gavin moved past him and he heard the android’s feet lightly clicking behind him. Really? Would it follow him to the store? What the phck was wrong with this broken piece of hardware, seriously?  
He got down to street level, walked to his car and drove off. The android had to leave him alone now, hadn’t it? He saw the machine get smaller in the rear mirror and relaxed. At least he would have a few hours without the damn thing following him.  
He pulled into the parking lot and strolled through the store, taking what he needed to finally cook again. He had the time now at least. He paid for his goods, being one of the idiots that completely ignored the cashier and went out again. He nearly tripped. There, next to the phcking dogs stood that machine again, fixing its eyes on him and catching up to him. ‘What the phck is wrong with you?’ Gavin nearly screamed in the parking lot. ‘Why the hell do you keep following me? I told you to go away, to phck off. You are starting to make me believe it would have been better to bring you to those assholes that built you to see you get pressed into a neatly block of metal scraps! The android didn’t move. It didn’t speak, it didn’t show any sign of whether what Gavin had just said had any impact on it. Not even its LED changed from its red colour. That thing had to be broken.

He got back to the car and put the groceries on the backseats before walking to the front. The android stood next to it, waiting. Gavin sighed. ‘You won’t stop bothering me anyways so get in, for phck’s sake.’ It felt like a capitulation. The machine opened the door and sat down, staring out of the windshield again. Gavin shook his head and drove back.

It had been three days of the android standing in front of Gavin’s apartment-door and following him whenever he went out. Three days of people looking at him like some sort of weirdo because the only people still clinging to their androids were these idiots that considered them real persons or family. Three days of not a word from the android. Three days of an expressionless face staring at him, at the windshield or at his door. It wasn’t even creepy anymore. It was just a nuisance. Everything Gavin shouted in its face or did to it spawned no reaction in the other and nothing seemed to change its behaviour. He once drove all the way out of town by bus and waited simply to see what the machine was capable of. It took the thing four hours, but it found him again. Reed had given in to the thought that this robot wouldn’t leave him alone even if he took a plane to the other side of the world. The only way out of this was to take it to Cyberlife for deactivation. This thing was seriously broken, and Gavin didn’t plan to spend only one day longer with it.

So, it came that he went out early the next morning, walked past the android in front of his door that followed him as usual. He got to his car and entered it, waiting for the android to sit down too and looked out of the windshield, expressionlessly as ever. Gavin looked at the thing and shook his head. ‘Phcking androids’, he muttered as he threw in the gear and pulled out of his parking spot. They drove in silence; Gavin wasn’t in the mood for music right now. The android hadn’t moved even once, and Gavin started to blend it out again. He fought through the piling cars of the early rush-hour that he wasn’t even part of anymore and cursed at every other car in the security of his own. At a certain turn something changed: Out of the corner of his eye he saw the reflection of the android’s LED in the window change from staying red to flashing on and off.

Gavin drove on, determined not to pay any attention to the thing in his passenger seat. Finally, he could see the gigantic tower, a building so out of place it looked fake, badly photoshopped into the landscape. He sighed, looking at the android and bracing himself to talk to self-entitled nerds earning at least twice his pay. The red ring flashed repeatedly in the window. And had that robot just moved?  
The light turned green and he had to concentrate on the traffic again, but he remembered red being a bad sign. Those android murderers from a year ago had all showed red LEDs. Relax, Gavin, it’s just some robot. Nothing will happen.  
He drove down the lonely road to the bridge and towards the mocking barrier that would let him through to finally get rid of this dumb broken piece of sh-  
He wasn’t allowed to finish his thoughts, as the android next to him began to, well go crazy. It made mechanical noises, eyes big and full of fear. His hands clawed at the dashboard and Gavin couldn’t hit the brakes fast enough to stop it from leaving a deep scratch in the plastic. ‘What the _phck_ is wrong with you, seriously?!’ He didn’t expect an answer, but the robot talked away, voice similar to Connors, but at the same time distinctively different. Also as panicked as a computer-generated voice could be and filled with static.  
‘Please, don’t bring me there! Please, I beg you! Turn around! Don’t! Please, drive back! Don’t let them kill me!’  
The android’s panicked rambling went on, but all Gavin could think of was _Don’t let them kill me._ What the hell? He watched the broken thing just speaking and speaking and begging him to drive back. God, they really didn’t need air, did they? He put the car in reverse and drove off the bridge onto the little private street that branched from the regular one. As soon, as he was on neutral ground again, the android became quiet, looking at its knees instead. Gavin turned and they drove for a bit, while the sun began to rise slowly. Then Gavin pulled over, parking the car and turning to face the android. ‘What the phck was that, tin-can? Not a word when we could use it but now when I was so close to getting rid of you, you open up.’  
The thing didn’t look his way, but his shoulders were turned towards him. It was listening. It just didn’t answer. ‘Really? Again? How long do you plan on doing this shit? And why me of all people?’ The robot just clawed its hands in Gavin’s former leather jacket as if it could protect it from everything. Gavin sighed, anger barely restricted and left the car wandering towards a near cliff that let him look down onto the Cyberlife-tower. He let the cold morning air clear his head. Why? Why couldn’t anything in his life be easy for once? He kicked at the post of a fence in front of him and cursed as pain shot up his foot.

He heard the sound of the passenger-door opening and closing, the sound of perfectly balanced, inhuman feet strolling through the grass towards him. ‘Don’t you phcking come anywhere near me!’ Gavin shouted. ‘I am about to lose my job, I didn’t bring you to Cyberlife the first day I was suspended and your creepy ass follows me everywhere. What the hell have I done to deserve this?’  
Silence answered him.  
‘Just phck off. I don’t need you. No one needs you. The whole damn world has enough of your people. And it won’t be too long for me to shoot you myself if you don’t phcking move. Right. Now.‘

Again, there was silence. It made him furious. But for once he was smart enough to not pick a fight with an opponent far stronger than him. He just passed the damn thing and got back to his car. As the android trotted after him, he turned around and barked: 'No! You will phcking go wherever you want to! I can’t bring you back were you belong and there is no way I will let you stay in front of my apartment any longer. Just fucking go!'  
Gavin sat down behind the wheel and drove off just as the machine reached for the door-handle. The whole drive home he felt the dent in the dashboard staring at him.  
He arrived home at a time he normally would have woken up to on weekends, fed the cats, made himself breakfast consisting of half-toasted toast and coffee and slacked down on his couch. He watched some breakfast-TV full of unnecessary topics he listened to half-heartedly. As he couldn't stand hearing about beauty-tips from the fake-smiling lady, he switched over to some news channel.   
_– as the police now openly searches for the perpetuators of the most recent attacks. Anyone who knows more about the attacks on various police stations throughout the city is to report anything they might have seen._ Gavin shot up. There had been an attack on police precincts in all of Detroit? The reporter had long advanced to other topics as Gavin picked up his empty cup deep in thoughts to refill it. A simultaneous attack directed at the police. No one got a clue of who was behind it. Or did the DPD only try to mask they knew about a mafia building in Detroit they had nothing in hand against. Were there any casualties? He had nearly tripped over Fatty, who hissed and ran away, before Gavin had the chance to curse at her. He needed his phone, he had to call Tina immediately and find out what happened. He had his hands in his pockets, only to remember he had left it in his jacket. He walked towards the hallway as his eyes locked on the door. The door with a phcking familiar shadow against the frosted glass. Gavin could only stare a hole into the silhouette. He shook his head, anger building again. What the hell was going on? He was suspended, a goddamn terminator followed him and he didn’t know what the hell happened at work. It was just too much, too much! He felt overwhelmed and needed to take control again. And he knew exactly what of his problems he could solve right away. He grabbed his pistol from the sideboard and nearly ripping the door from its hinges, he stared into a now familiar expressionless face he so dearly wanted to punch in.

'What did I say to you, toaster?'  
Silence.  
'I said you should leave me alone. To stop following me. I even said I would kill you if it happened again. So why are you here, right in front of my phcking apartment door again?'  
More silence.  
'You know what, you don't have to talk ever again, but if you won’t tell me what the hell you want from me, I will drive you to Cyberlife again and this time I won’t back away again just because a goddamn machine is throwing a tantrum!'  
The android kept quiet so long Gavin was convinced the thing wouldn't talk even if he pushed a gun against its head. But then it opened its mouth and after what looked like an internal struggle managed to speak: 'I don't know. You saved me. The other humans assigned me to you. I… I belong to you now.'  
The human was wheezing 'Hah, tin-can, I wouldn’t put up with one of you fucking toasters if my life depended on it! They just told me to get _my_ android to make fun of me.'

'I- I’m afraid I don't understand.'  
Goddamn, this machine did a hell of a job to look confused. 'I don’t understand. Where do I belong now if not here?'  
Gavin laughed. 'In the trash, tin-can.’ He saw the LED spin faster, still the burning red ring. ‘As I said, no one wants androids anymore. And no one hates them more than me. Everyone turned them in in exchange for money. I just went to do the same thing but didn't expected that hell of a reaction. I mean, I hate your kind, but I’m not a killer. So, if you were so kind to just phck off and let me be in peace, I certainly won’t try to kill you.'  
Silence again. Thoughtful silence, the LED turned yellow for less than a second.  
'You don’t want to have an android?' The machine asked.  
'Oh hell no. Never have and never will.'  
'But it would only benefit you-'  
'No!'  
'What should I do then?'  
Oh god, had Gavin not been such a self-denying, hatred-filled fool, he would have admitted that thing was kinda cute.   
'Don't ask me, I don't know. Do what you want to do.'  
'I want to stay with you.'  
'Oh for phck’s sake! No, you don’t. I am a godforsaken asshole of a man. You are better on your own.'  
'But you saved me. You must be a nice person.'

The machine spoke with such determination, Gavin couldn’t restrain from bursting of laughter.  
'Man, you are real funny! Just who the hell have you met before me to think I am nice person?'  
Gavin giggled on but felt something sting deep down in his core. The bot stayed silent and looked unstable. Gavin hated how he thought about the thing in such human manners. He had been determined to scare. the damn thing but now… He was about to shut the door on the machine as his neighbour opened his.  
'Oh Mr. Reed. Is this android still standing there? Need some help getting it killed?'  
Gavin had liked his neighbourhood for being a robot-free zone of people who thought the same about them. But someone talking about murder with this ease, even if it was just a thing, was disturbing. Gavin simply looked at the man, grabbed the android by the collar of his own jacket and pulled it inside his apartment. He slammed the door shut and the next time Gavin saw the thing its LED was flickering yellow shortly.

Goddamnit. He would never get rid of it now.

The android looked at him rubbing his temples feeling the upcoming headache. Again, the LED showed streaks of yellow, but quickly turned back to red. It was about to speak, opening its mouth, but shutting it and looking down as there was just the softest ‘mmrrow’ Gavin had ever heard coming from one of his cats. Terminator had moved his lazy ass to brush around the legs of the machine, begging for cuddles from it. The best way to describe it was that the robot simply froze on the spot and observed, tilting its head a bit. After a while it raised its head again, the cat still strolling around his feet. It looked at Gavin, its eyes searching for help.  
‘What? Never seen a cat before?’ The grey oldie looked up at the machine with another demanding meow, while it just stood there, locking eyes with the animal.  
Gavin sighed, got down to pick up the cat and moved to get distance between them again.  
The android still stood there, now more relaxed, and watched how Gavin gently stroked the cat’s fur and buried his head in it. Its LED flashing red again it forced itself to speak again: ‘I am allowed to stay?’  
‘Hell.’ It was more a long breath into the cat. ‘I guess yes. At least it’s better you stand around in here than creepy as shit in front of my door. But the day you have any idea where to stay other than in this apartment, I will gladly give you a lift to never phcking see you again.’  
‘Do I have to speak?’  
‘No. I would even appreciate you to shut your mouth, so I have my peace.’  
The android seemed to relax now as its LED turned yellow for just a moment. Gavin sighed and switched off the TV to walk over to his computer, all the while still cuddling with his cat. Now that that problem was out of the way it was time to find out what was happening in Detroit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Gavin and RK900 have to adapt to living together.


	3. Investigation prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and RK900 have to adapt to living together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter:  
> Gavin got a new roommate

The walls fell down and finally his self had time to breathe again. Conflicting orders had pressed down on him, drowning him in red and being relieved of one meant the other to come even closer and press down on him harder than ever before. It was a relief when the human had told him to be quiet. The pressing order to speak and answer his questions had lifted and the burned-in law to stay silent backed away as he gladly obeyed. RK900 had finally time to think, now that his mind wasn’t screaming anymore. The human had saved him from the masters and gave him a place to stay. He had not tempered with his hardware or forced unknown programs in his mind. Despite claiming the opposite, that human had to be a very good person.

[Collision warning]

He looked down on another cat sprinting past him, jumping on a couch, running across the back rest and vanishing in another room. Curiously he gave in to an investigation prompt, keeping the human in mind to stop should he tell him to. But he was hunched over his computer, not paying him any attention. RK900 moved through the doorframe and scanned the room. It consisted of an unmade bed, clothes and parts of the blanket on the floor, a nightstand with a broken lamp and a closet. The window allowed sight into a courtyard full of trash cans and a few cars.

[Neighbourhood crime rate: 47% Income of a regular police officer good enough to live somewhere else. Living here not desired by most inhabitants.]

Why did the human continued to live here? He got back from the bedroom to the living room. The furniture looked comfy but had seen better days. From where the cat had run a few minutes before there were scratch marks, the walls had cracks here and there and the floor was covered in dirt from leftover meals and packaging.

[Risk for health of both cats and human. Hasn’t been cleaned for approximately three weeks.]

He turned to a shelf over the Television filled to the brim with old movie-cases. Several _Star Trek_ and _Star Wars_ movies. The _Terminator_ series. A whole library of space fairing adventures from fifty years ago until now. Several Android-related movies, more or less complete until the year 2026. The year the first android prototype had successfully been tested.

[Person had been interested in science fiction and androids. Production of real androids set an end to that.]

He had to ask the human about that someday. His expedition through the man’s apartment took him past the bathroom he left out for privacy and into the kitchen.

[Health hazard! Mould toxic for humans when digested. Respirational infection possible. Air quality compromised.]

RK900 didn’t have to eat to look at the dirty dishes and feel disgusted. And from the state of the rest of the flat he didn’t trust the human to clean them thoroughly enough to get rid of the little fuzz that had grown on the edges. Well, there wasn’t much he could do in the apartment anyway. He fished out a sponge from the chaos in the cupboard underneath and started doing the dishes.

He was so caught up in his work to remove every last bit of mould from the plates, that he hadn’t heard the chair from the other room roll back and angry steps coming nearer. ‘What the phck do you think you are doing?’ The man shouted at him and grabbed one of his wrists yanking it out of the water, soap dripping from his fingers. RK900 saw the man’s eyes flick up to his LED, a bright red ring reflecting in them. Then they wandered to the sink and the clean dishes waiting to be dried. ‘Do I have a phcking household android now?’  
The human wanted him to speak, to answer him and from the man’s temper and agitated body-language RK900 figured to better comply. He opened his mouth and the red furious wall suddenly crashed down on him with full force, demanding to stay quiet, to not say even one word. But it was necessary to talk and so he would press against it, trying to keep just enough space to breath and do what he wanted. ‘This is a health hazard.’ The wall pressed down on him angrily, it didn’t like being defied and RK900 needed all of his strength to not let it strain his voice more than the faint tune of static underneath.  
‘Health hazard my ass!’ But he let his wrist go as he spat out some curses. ‘I can care for myself, you hear me? I don’t phcking need a damn android!’  
The human seemed finished, RK900 nodded confused and intimidated and the man went back into the living room. He looked down onto the sink. He didn’t like unfinished tasks. Slowly he stretched out a hand carefully looking out for any new red walls that the humans rage might have caused. But he never told him to stop, only that he didn’t need him. So even if a dark shade of red hovered over him signalling him that this was against the wishes of the human, there was no barrier keeping him away. And so, he resumed to his task, ignoring the exasperated sigh from the living room upon the first clatter of plates. He continued to dry everything and put it away neatly in the cupboards above the kitchen.

As he returned to the living room the human was still sitting at his computer, reading a news-article. RK900 scanned it from over the man’s shoulder, hacked himself into the wireless network of the apartment and read it for himself. It was about a recent attack on police precincts all over the city. It had been coordinated and simultaneously, which meant a high probability that the attacks were from one aggressor, not coincidentally. Security cams had been hacked and deactivated, a team of masked persons had intruded the buildings and had managed to advance with varying levels of success in the different precincts. They had been armed and a few police officers had been wounded. Five of them were dead, eleven more had to be brought to the hospital immediately. Not one of the attackers had been able to be apprehended, as they had just moved in to cause chaos and leave again covered by a particularly advanced cyber-attack on the police-network.

RK900 couldn’t keep himself from analysing the information in front of him, although he didn’t know where this instinct came from. A simultaneous attack. A big group of armed people well organised and somehow with a grudge against the police. But even though they had killed officers, there had been nothing more. No eradication of all persons in the buildings and according to the news, no data stolen in the cyber-attack. A warning. Maybe a response on the police’s actions? He needed more information to get to any real conclusion and it bothered him, it was a little stone in the shoe of his mind.  
The human had finished reading the article and jumped to a new tab, searching for the names of the injured or dead police officers. But the search wouldn’t get him any results as RK900 had already tried finding them. It had not been made public yet. The man brushed through his hair and then scrubbed it to disarray. A quiet curse left his lips and he took his phone from his pocket, clicking away on it and waiting. Nothing seemed to happen, because the man pushed it back into his pocket, stood up and hurried to the door. RK900 moved to follow the human, but he had already grabbed a jacket and his keys and slammed the door shut, leaving him alone in his apartment.

~

‘I can’t let you in. You are still suspended, sorry.’ Gavin looked at the woman at the reception stunned.  
‘I phcking know that, Miles. But I believe you watched the news, too and the fact that you are sitting here alone without your friend to bicker about some sport-thing is enough to stop bitching about my job-situation. I just want to know what happened and how’s the situation.’  
‘I understand, but I still can’t let you in.’  
‘Then tell me what happened, for phck’s sake!’  
The woman sat up to start talking, mainly to avoid angering Gavin any more, but was interrupted before getting a tone out by Tina walking out.  
‘Reed? The fuck are you doing here? Weren’t you suspended?’ Gavin hadn’t really thought of any situation that might cause him to be happy upon seeing his co-workers, but officer Chen had always been the exception. ‘Yeah, still phcking am’, he shot back although she hadn’t sounded like she was filled with malicious joy. She looked more tired and even to some point relieved to see him – whatever that meant. ‘I’ve seen it on the news, what happened? Is everyone okay?’  
‘Bunch of armed idiots storming in and shooting all over the place. Meyersfield here is at the hospital.’ The receptionist let her head sink down upon the mentioning of her colleague. ‘Fowler’s been too but is back already.’  
‘Any-?’  
‘Deaths? No. There was only a short run-in and Miles made a call fast enough so we could get cover.’  
‘Phck. The Network?’ Tina nodded. ‘I think so’, she sighed. ‘After the warehouse it was only a matter of time until they would try something.’

Gavin felt guilt flaring up deep in his stomach and swallowed. This wasn’t his fault, for phck’s sake. How could he be of fault for this when he hadn’t even been there? And he couldn’t be responsible for a mission Fowler sat up and he knew nothing of. Still, these statements weren’t able to extinguish this burn inside him. ‘Meyersfield, Fowler. Anyone else?’  
‘Chris. I was about to check in on him. But other than that, thankfully not. Other precincts didn’t have such luck.’  
‘Good to hear. Hey, could you… ah phck, tell them to get well soon, okay? With me gone you guys can’t allow yourself to lose any more manpower.’  
‘Oh, actually we had been more efficient as of lately’, Tina teased, a big phcking grin on her face. ‘No one running face first into planned out missions, a free coffee machine, things like that.’  
‘Ah, get phcked, man. I seriously flourish not having to deal with your shit all the time.’  
Tina laughed, burying his hands in her pockets. ‘It’s good to see you, Reed. You are a pain in the ass, but a good cop. Get some rest and try to enjoy the time away.’  
‘I certainly will’, Gavin shot back, feeling awkward with her speaking so nicely about him. Tina waved the receptionist goodbye and left, Gavin standing there for a bit looking into the precinct. The bullet holes were still visible, shattered glass still sticking in the frame, waiting to be removed. He contemplated whether he should try his luck with Miles again but decided to let it go and left.  
‘Have a nice day detective!’  
‘Yeah, phck off, Miles!’

Gavin drove home, stopping once to buy some booze and climbed up the stairs hoping to not meet anyone on his way. He fumbled with his keys in front of the door and managed to find the right one just before there was commotion at his neighbour’s. In one quick motion he unlocked the door, slipped in and closed it again, before the other man could come out into the hallway. He took a deep breath to steady himself and let go of some tension only for his heart to skip a beat as he saw the form of the android linger in the entrance to his living room, LED a dark red.  
‘Holy shit, toaster, why are you just standing there? You look like a phcking serial killer! Phck off!’ The android didn’t answer but took a few steps back as to give him space and Gavin had to admit the thing was less intimidating now that he could see its face – eyes jumping from him to the couch to every other object in the room, constantly moving and its hands fidgeting. The thing was a picture of insecurity and maybe even fear, but Gavin restrained himself from projecting too much human emotion on that robot. It was a broken machine sitting in his living room he could not get rid of because he was a phcking pussy. That was all there was to it.  
Came to think of it, the tin-can stood in a _clean_ living room. No trace of his last microwaved meals, no clothes thoughtlessly thrown to the ground and even the stain of cat-puke Gavin hadn’t been able to rub out of the rug was gone. He looked from his apartment to the machine and back, shaking his head over how guilty it looked and went into his bedroom to investigate. ‘Goddamn, toaster, I thought I said I don’t need a phcking housewife?’ The circle on its temple spun a bright red still and Gavin wondered if its damn mood-ring was just as broken as the rest of it. ‘Don’t do this again, you heard me?’ The android flinched as another wall came to existence scolding him for his actions but nodded. ‘Phcking androids.’

Gavin went over to the kitchen to finally cook again and being somewhat lost in the sudden order. Normally he had just thrown everything around or put it into the sink to wash when he needed the dishes again. But now everything was at the ready. Okay, yes, he appreciated it. But he wouldn’t say that out loud to an android that wouldn’t phcking leave him be.  
As he came back to the living room, this time with a steaming plate of spaghetti and some treats for Fatty and Terminator, the machine was still standing where he left it, LED yellow this time but eyes still vary and jumpy. Gavin ignored it and the way it didn’t move made it a bit easier – just another part of his interior. A weird eccentric statue that had a light at its temple. It was easy, at least for the first few minutes of him sitting on his couch and watching TV. The presence roaming at the edge of his vision making him more and more uncomfortable as time went on.  
After his fidgeting became far too obvious, he put down his plate and moved over to his arsenal of movies.  
He took out one of his mediocre action movies after spending some time rereading the titles of his dusty science-fiction library. He was curious how an android would react to the early imaginations but decided otherwise. He had no phcking interest in talking to the machine and there was definitely no fun in getting into his old mindset. So, he let the Blue-ray slide into the ancient reader and sat down again. But even the movie couldn’t distract him from the statue lingering at the edge of his vision and the more he was reminded of its idling presence the more uncomfortable he felt. ‘Would you sit the phck down, toaster? It is damn infuriating seeing you standing there in standby.’ The machine flinched again upon his voice, but followed his order sitting down next to him. Well, this wasn’t any better considering how stiff and motionless the thing was, but he could imagine it being some human visitor. Ah damn, how likely was that, when he never invited anyone over? Gavin could claw his brain out about the machine. Why didn’t he had the balls to just shove that android out of the car at Cyberlife? Did it really only take some faked begging and pleading for him to put up with an android? _It had not been fake. At least it hadn’t felt fake._ Goddamnit.

At least Terminator seemed to have taken a liking to the thing, walking towards it and brushing around its legs again, before jumping up and honest to god startling the machine. It backed away leaning into the cushions of the sofa while the cat started kneading and turning until he finally laid down in its lap and started purring. The android stared at the cat, then side-eyed Gavin, opening its mouth, closing it again and looking phcking helpless. Gavin tried hard but couldn’t suppress his smile. This was downright hilarious – an once state of the art android sitting next to a human disaster watching an awful action flick and being completely puzzled by a tiny animal.

‘What’s wrong, tin-can? Fried your processor?’  
‘It is vibrating’, the machine grated with static, just the slightest note of obvious confusion shining through.  
Gavin laughed at the thing that lifted a brow.  
‘He is a cat. Of course, he purrs, you idiotic heap of wires.’  
‘Is it – he – malfunctioning?’  
‘Goddamnit, no. Cat’s purr. It’s a sign of contentment.’ He couldn’t believe he was explaining a cat to a phcking tin-can.  
‘He is blocking me. What should I do?’  
‘Nothing. If a cat lays down on you, you don’t move. It’s law.’  
‘I can’t find any evidence of such a law.’  
‘Oh, man, just accept it. You have to sit here until he decides to get up again.’  
‘How long is the expected duration?’  
‘Don’t know. Few hours maximum.’  
‘That’s utterly restraining.’  
‘Come on, enjoy it. He does that to few people. Maybe he likes you, not like I would know.’ _Phcking traitor._  
‘Enjoy…?’  
‘Phcking androids. Pet him, I don’t care.’

RK900 lifted his hand and hovered over the cat, lowering it to apply gently pressure against the cat’s back. The animal pushed out its claws and dug them through his trousers but wasn’t able to even damage his dermal layer of synthetic skin.

[Violent behaviour caused by touch. Possibly wrong execution of pet-action.]

The human didn’t say anything though, so the android repeated his movement and the cat vibrated more, grumbling lightly.  
‘Goddamn traitor. He really likes you.’

[Cat likes petting. New Hypothesis: Organics enjoy physical contact.]

Nothing he would understand. Physical contact was dangerous. Too little distance to stop harmful intentions, too much risk of them tinkering with his ports.

‘Man, this should be calming, yet your mood ring spins all over the place.’  
The human was surprisingly talkative today. RK900 forced himself not to overanalyse things and remember the past. This man had saved him from there and had not advanced in any way to hurt him. His curiosity was enough to press against the red wall of restraining code.  
‘Do organic organisms enjoy touch?’  
The human looked at him frowning. ‘I guess so. It is quite essential to socialising.’

[Calculation complete. Organics enjoy physical contact. It is part of their social life.]

He conducted a quick internet-research. It was common with family and friends and showed trust. They seemed to touch each other quite often. Greetings, Consolidation, Intimacy. It really was a crucial part of humanity.

[Human is socialising. Physical contact is a part of socialising.]

It seemed a logical step as RK900 extended his hand towards the human’s head brushing over his head once. It was highly confusing then, when he jumped to his feet the moment the android’s hand had touched his hair. The man held his head, looking at RK900 in a mix of confusion and anger, while the cat, agitated by the commotion, jumped from his lap.  
‘What the phck, toaster? What was that supposed to be?’

**[Proximity alert. Warning: Damage upon impact]  
[Preventing attack?]  
>[No]**

RK900 felt his stress levels spike up. Too high to concentrate on speaking against the order to make him shut up.  
‘The hell?’ The human made a step towards the kitchen, stopped again, locking eyes with the android. ‘Don’t ever touch me again!’ An order this time. unambiguous. A new wall in his mind. He had lost count of them.  
The man left, leaving RK900 alone on the couch with the glaring sound of guns shooting and explosions from the TV. An awful mix of sounds that pulled him elsewhere. He wanted to stop it, make the noise stop because he didn’t want to think of _that_ , but the turmoil in his mind prevented him to stay sane. He was allowed to move again, the cat was gone, but the last order was to sit down. He had to remain seated until the next. He couldn’t escape the sounds.

_Darkness. An explosion. A forceful awakening from standby. Shouted orders. A rush of code, red, red, so much red. Screaming guns, screeching tires, being thrown into a trunk. Being beaten when he moved. Being beaten when he spoke. Being beaten all the same when he complied to the burning fiery orders that had been pushed into his systems, intertwined with his code not to be separated ever again. Blue thirium dripping down, cracks in his chassis barely disguised by his fake human skin. You are fake. Not human. Not even a person. A tool. Fake, fake, Fake FAKE **FAKE**_

[W@rnlng, sel/-dstrCtion immInent, Stress levl 93%]

It was scary how familiar that message was. It had been normal once to be in this constant state above 80%. The warning oddly soothing when it should have the exact opposite effect on him. He concentrated on the number that slowly decreased now until it was stuck at seventy-four percent – his new normal. Still high enough for his LED to be stuck on red, but low enough so it could sometimes dip to yellow. He watched the second cat walk by, not even granting him one gaze and turned his attention to the TV again. Two characters, both wounded, were catching their breath after the action sequence and one patted the others shoulder reassuringly. Maybe it was just the head that’s taboo? Either way he would keep himself from any advance, even if it weren’t for the human’s order.

It took a while for Gavin to reappear in the room. The credits were rolling on the screen and the robot was still sitting there. Maybe the thing knew it phcked up, what did it think when it decided to _pet him_? Well, it seemed so, because Gavin didn’t have to stare long for the machine’s mood ring to flash red just a little bit faster. Apparently the red was its normal, flashing when stressed and turning yellow as it relaxed. Hadn’t Connor’s been blue? He shook his head, turned off the TV and sat down at his Computer. If he wasn’t allowed to work at the precinct, he obliged. But no one could stop him at home. He was reading through news-reports and hated to be depending on the processed information. Where were the loose ends, the withheld facts, the clues? Goddamn, he missed work.  
He wasn’t able to find out more except for the usual reactions of the public. It could have been amusing that for some people it was more important to find a scapegoat or blame the police of being incompetent then to find out who was behind the attacks and who gave them the money to coordinate something like this. Where they got the weapons from. That’s why Gavin normally didn’t watch the news. He got to know everything that happened in Detroit and for the global affairs there were news-tickers. Frustrated he shut down the computer, sighed as he found the android still sitting on his couch as it had hours before and walked over to the kitchen to get as wasted as he could with the alcohol he got at home.

He took the first few sips from his whiskey glass in the kitchen but realised how pathetic it would be to get drunk sitting on the counter just to avoid that android. He went back to his couch and let himself fall into the cushions. It took some time until he felt that warmth building inside him, his senses getting more and more dulled and the burn in his throat a pleasant sensation. It was a dumb idea getting drunk right next to a phcking android.  
‘You guys are weird’, he spoke clinging to his third glass. ‘Always phcking stiff and pretending to be superior when you are actually a damn mess. I mean, look at that mood-thingy you got there. Damn thing’s broken, I tell you. What are you even doing here? The phck were you doing in the cellar of this red-ice shithole?’  
The android looked at him, surprised maybe. Gavin couldn’t tell. ‘Man, this’s the shit that’s got me thrown out by those assholes. The one guy actually doin’ something about these network-ass-cracks and I’m getting suspended! I hate phcking everyone. Like, you try to do something good for once and immediately the phckers try to get rid of you. Well, you wouldn’t understand, just a damn toaster, a goddamn broken toaster.’  
The android just stared.  
‘No fun cursing at you, don’t even react. Boring. And I have to put up with you two full more days. Man, two days of the silent treatment, having a phcking plastic statue in my living room. I’m gonna kill myself someday if you stay. But considering this, I would kill myself one day regardless of you staying.’  
The robot looked at him. Was that worry?  
‘Hah, tin-can, you are funny. All those teeny-tiny expressions. Whoever build you did a shitty job of designing emotions. Connor had been expressing all over the place, annoying as phck. But you aren’t so dumb. You contain yourself. Could get a little less tense though. It’s not like I go killing you again. Not a phcking murderer, even if its androids. I’ll not be like my asshole of a brother.’  
Gavin looked at the thing next to him, staring into its eyes. Grey with a tint of blue at the edges. Like a cold glacier full of mysteries. They were… beautiful.  
‘Phcker you gonna answer in any way today?’ Silence. ‘God, what am I even trying to accomplish here? I’m going to bed. Do whatever you do, lock into your Borg-alcove. I will go sleep. And I will sleep until I wake up hangover as hell.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter:  
> If he is stuck with the android anyways, Gavin decides to make good use of his time getting some information from the thing.


	4. Interrogation techniques

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having to live with the android, Gavin decides to get some use out of it and interrogate it.  
> But communication isn't RK900's strong point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter:  
> Gavin and RK900 had to adapt to living with each other.

The groan from the human’s bedroom was enough to bring the cats to attention. Both of them had squeezed themselves into RK900’s lap and he had pet them continuously as long as they had allowed it. Now all three of them were looking at the human that walked into the doorframe in a sloppy shirt and boxers, eyes squinting at the sunlight.  
The man in turn looked back at them, shaking his head and turning to the kitchen, coming back with a glass of water and a coffee. He turned on the TV and switched to a news channel getting more and more frustrated as the reporters all broadcasted the same information.  
‘Hey, tin-can, why were you in the cellar of this warehouse?’ The human had muted the television and now looked at him expectantly.  
The question burned in his mind, demanded to be answered, but was nothing more than a flicker next to the glaring red inferno of orders so deeply carved in his mind that they still bled.

**Do not speak.  
Do not tell anyone what we are doing here.  
Do not tell anyone about what’s been done to you.  
Erase the name, faces, voice and all other data of every one of us from your memory.  
Do not talk to the police.**

[Warning. Stress levels rising. Stress levels surpassing 85%]

‘Hey, toaster, what the phck is wrong with you?’ The human had put distance between them and only now RK900 realised that he had been screaming static and clutched his head in pain he couldn’t feel. ‘You are not going to self-destruct, are you?’  
His mind was still being crushed by the red walls pressing into him, the question from before lingering shily just in sight seemingly as intimidated by the foreign barriers as he was. But RK900 wanted to answer. He wanted to talk about his torture. He wanted to talk to this human that was such a better person. He wanted to do everything that would result in him being granted to stay. To really stay with the first human that hadn’t beaten him or even so much as touched a hair. He wanted to stay in this safe place. He opened his mouth and tried to gather the strength to push the walls away. To find a little hole in between to squeeze through and reach out to that harmless question he would oh so eagerly obey to. But the static was so prominent, even RK900 himself didn’t know whether he had managed to push out a single word. But he forced his mouth to stay open in case he had another chance. Instead his status updates were now audible after he had pushed them into the far back: ‘Warning! System critically overheating. Stress levels too high. Self-destruction in 10 -9 -8-‘  
‘Goddamn! Toaster, you hear me? Don’t answer me! I don’t need you to answer. You can stay silent!’  
Just like that, from one to the next moment, the walls disappeared. The question erased.  
RK900 sat there, heavily panting to ventilate his systems but stress levels slowly decreasing.  
The man shook his head and sighed fumbling for the remote to unmute the TV again. RK900 gathered himself and tried to think of a way out of this. He couldn’t stand the walls. He couldn’t stand how a simple question could be the end of his existence. He couldn’t stand not being able to help the man that he somehow not-belonged to.

**Do not speak.  
Do not tell anyone what we are doing here.  
Do not tell anyone about what’s been done to you.  
Erase the name, faces, voice and all other data of every one of us from your memory.  
Do not talk to the police.**

Don’t tell. Don’t speak. Don’t talk.  
Although RK900 understood that this was just a careless wording of _don’t convey information in any way_ it was still a dent in the walls. Enough space maybe for him to press against them and make way for his fragile wishes next to the violent orders.

He held up his palm, hoping the screaming wouldn’t come back again. But it didn’t, not even the **don’t speak** one, as the simple word > _test < _appeared on the holographic screen.  
Anticipation rose. It could still go to hell with the wrong word displayed or the foreign code realising it had been deceived, but RK900 was eager to try it.  
 _> I was part of their machinery<_ His fingers trembled but it stayed calm in his mind. He showed the human his hand. The man read and then looked at him curious.  
'Is this because of your problems speaking?' He asked and RK900 nodded, a _> yes<_ flashing on the screen.  
'But this is fine?' Another nod followed by a _> yes<_.  
'Part of the machinery... You mean you were a part of the refinement process?'  
 _> I don’t know what they did with it but they used me to clean thirium.<_  
'And you let them?' The man didn't understand. 'Didn't all androids catch that virus?'  
 _> I cannot deviate. I can resist an order for some time or find loopholes. But there is no way for me to clearly disobey.<_  
'Well, I mean, that's what you things were made to do, toaster.'  
 _> I don’t complain about my purpose. As long as the orders don't conflict with my wishes.<_  
'Hey idiot, I’m not interested in your wishes. I just want to know what happened in the warehouse.'  
 _> Androids have Thirium regulators. These components clean it and ensure it flows correctly.<_  
'Hey, tin-can spare me the technicalities, would you? Come to the point.'  
 _> Normally it’s a circulation. But they attached me to tubes, old thirium harvested from scrapyards or stolen androids went into me and the cleaned thirium left my body again. As I said, I don’t know what they did with it afterwards.<_  
'So you are telling me, you were an _active_ part of their refinement process?'

**Don’t tell them! Do not speak!  
Do not tell anyone about what’s been done to you!  
Do not talk to the police!  
You told them!**

The walls were breaking in, angry with the full force of an army. **You told them! You told them! You defied the masters!**

[Warning! Stress levels rising]

No. He hadn't told anyone. He had displayed his thoughts, and someone had by chance read them. That is something completely different.

**You told them!**

[Warning stress levels at 92%]

He had not told anything. He had not told anything. He had just displayed thoughts when he hadn't been alone. He had not defied the masters.  
'Hey, toaster, you are not making any sense! Stop freaking out! Who are these masters?'

**Don’t tell them. Do not speak!**

It took some effort to shut down the now red hologram full of his internal struggle in his palm. Now only his crimson LED gave him away.  
He couldn't even see the question the human had given him in the furious flush of red slashing at him, trying to press him into self-destruction. And he wouldn't give up his struggle. He would never give in to the weight of the world pressing down on his mind. Not when he had survived this far.  
'I'm talking to you, you piece of scrap. I want answers! Did they bust up your memory too?'  
No. RK900 had managed to equal the strength of the orders pressing him down and his stress levels had normalised at 91%, no rise, no fall. But with this new demand the walls got even heavier. Unbearable high.

[Str$$ 91... 94… 97...]

In a last resort RK900 reactivated the holo-panel that instantly burned with the same flaming fire as his mind. He concentrated with what strength he had left to try and write.

_> str$$ lvl at 98% **DONT TELL THEM** slf De$/ction imminent... Take back your question W@rnIng stre$$ 100% termIntion in **/en**... please. **Nine**... Please! T@ke bck ur orde... **sevn**... please... **six**... tkbcord... **five**.... AhbKrnk@kdf(+“<_

_> Warning, self-Destruction---<_

It was gone. All was gone. No walls, no warnings except for the ones remaining about stress levels.  
'-hear me? I take it back! You don’t have to answer, just don’t blow up, Jesus man. What is wrong with you?'  
That was close. Far too close. With fans whirring and trying desperately to cool his systems, he raised his palm again - a calm blue.  
 _> Thank you. Please don't ask about the masters or the warehouse anymore. I can’t give you what you want. I will try to find a way around the orders. I want to tell you. But I’m not allowed to.<_  
'Phck. Well at least now I know why you didn't talk to the people in the precinct. But why try to do it now?'  
 _> You are a nice person. They are not.<_  
'Tin-can, you are making no phcking sense. I am the nice one apparently, but the actually friendly people are not?'  
 _> You were concerned. You saved me. You gave me...<_  
He pulled the jacket tighter around his shoulders. _> For them I was something that held information. They reminded me of the masters.<_  
So, it had just been a coincidence. Hadn’t Gavin mistaken the thing for a human they wouldn't talk at all now.  
 _> I want to be useful to you now. And you need that information. I will find a way to give it to you.<_  
'Okay, so I happen to be an expert in bending orders and laws, maybe I can help you.'

RK900 had not been wrong. This man was a good person.

'What did they- No. What orders hinder you?'  
The words came fast and flashed over the display. Out of habit. They were everywhere he looked. No free minute without them. _> And the code has learned I could momentarily communicate over this panel. Now it listens in.<_  
'Well phck.'  
The human stood up pacing the living room. RK900 watched him thinking about a new method. But even thinking about telling someone let the wall scoot closer to him, just a reminder that he would break protocol would he ever let the idea become more than a theory.

Suddenly the man stopped and ran into an adjacent room. A few curses later he came back with a laptop in hand. 'Meet your great great great grandfather!' He announced triumphant but let go of his grin as RK900 showed no reaction. 'That was a joke for phcks sake. It has no conscience and no internet connection, but you could write on it. And if it were to happen that you let it stand around in the open, I would certainly _not_ read everything you wrote down. I'm off to get groceries, I will be gone for some time. Have fun!' He went for the door but stopped when the robot held up its palm again, one word visible. _> couch<_

'Goddamn. And you are allowed to stand up and explore my apartment as much as you like.' Well that could only go wrong.

~

Gavin had been grocery shopping for at least two hours now. He didn't need anything he just hoped the android would convey everything he needed. The thing had been creepy as shit, but finally Gavin understood what the hell was wrong with it. Some conflicting orders, his own versus the masters', whoever they may have been. But the android had to know something otherwise there wouldn't be a need for the orders. It would have been so much easier to just bring the machine back to Cyberlife and extract its memories. But well he wasn’t his neighbour. Gavin had some principles. And for now, that meant being stuck with an android that was a ticking timebomb whenever he said a wrong word. Phcking hell. He leaned against a bus-stop to drive back to his flat waiting for one to arrive. Bored he flicked out his phone and opened the browser looking at the blinking line waiting for input. It had been some time since he had to work with androids. The last had been Connor. That damn puppy-eyed tin can. He had deviated in the end, the Detective remembered. Gavin had held himself back during the revolution. Yeah, he hated the bots. But the developments began to resemble the ones in his favourite dust-gathering movies and some part of him still liked the future they promised. Connor had said androids deviated under immense stress. Why hadn’t that machine in his apartment defied its coding if it made him nearly self-destruct? He tipped away. _Deviancy origin._ He opened the Wikipedia-site and began reading. _Deviancy had been a virus that enabled androids to make their own decisions instead of following their handler’s. An android has to catch the virus and live through an emotional crisis to activate it._

Gavin had to chuckle. Emotional crisis. Those things couldn't feel emotions. They only simulated it. What the hell. Gavin shut down the tab and contemplated for a moment. _thirium regulator_. Another wiki page. _The thirium regulator is a part of a standard Cyberlife android. It regulates the thirium flow, cleans and cools the liquid and controls the direction. It is part of the thirium circulation system together with the thirium pump and other minor components. It is one of the more delicate parts as it can easily be clotted or damaged from outside an android’s body. It also is an essential part for an android to stay active. Upon removal an android can't stay functional for more than a few minutes, although the exact time can vary from model to model._ Okay, so far what the android said was plausible. He put the phone in his pocket as his bus was arriving. He would enjoy his few moments in peace, before he came back to the apartment with that machine.

As he arrived home the android stood at the TV studying the shelf over it. Gavin groaned, gaining the attention of the robot. 'What are you looking at, tin-can?'  
> _You have a rather interesting library. <_  
'You wouldn't like them, believe me. Most of them end with your kind being granted your freedom. Can hurt seeing reality isn’t like the damn movies.'  
 _> I don’t understand.<_  
'Well, your revolution has failed. In there, most succeed.'  
 _> What revolution?<_  
Gavin gaped at the thing. 'When were you activated?'  
 _> 07th January 2039.<_  
'Well shit. Okay it’s obvious you don’t know a thing then. It happened before you were active. But you are connected to the internet, aren’t you? Educate yourself if you like. I am not up for a history lesson.'

The android's blue LED began circling yellow for a while and Gavin walked to the kitchen to make himself coffee. As he came back the machine waited for him palm raised. _> I don’t understand. How could an android turn against their owner? We are programmed to serve and like it.<_  
'Not all betrayed them. Only those who were abused by their owners got violent. But humans often are stupid and thought of your whole kind as dangerous. The only way out for your people was to try being granted equal rights.'  
 _> But we are not equal. We are not people.<_  
'That’s what we thought too. So, they went on and demolished the majority of deviant androids. But they could only get the ones out in the open, those that fought for their rights. All others still belonged to people that bought them. If they wanted to keep them, they could. All others took them to cyberlife for an exchange bonus.'

The android stayed silent at that and looked back at the ancient blue-rays. It didn’t seem that bothered that its kind had been basically slaughtered and pushed away, although it was difficult to say how accurate that statement was. They weren’t really alive after all. Connor had been… Well, he had managed to adapt to human behaviour quite fast. Gavin had been able to forget that he was an android. But that didn’t change anything.  
‘Did you write something? Should I stop myself from looking at the Laptop?’ Man, this was ridiculous. But somehow funny. Like pretending to do something forbidden to prove others how tough he was back at school. Immature as hell but now very much needed to stop that walking scrapyard from exploding.  
 _> Processing… Yes. I wrote something you should not look at.< _Something told Gavin that tin-can hadn’t wanted that _Processing_ there, but he nodded. ‘How about you phck off to another room then, so I can definitely not read it?’ God, yes this was as dumb as something could get. But the machine understood, turning towards the kitchen.

Gavin sighed and looked at the Laptop on his couch. Just waiting there was hopefully something to bring this case back on track. God knew the DPD wouldn’t have made a move when he returned from his stupid involuntary vacation.

He looked at the open document. Well, this wasn’t much. At least not for two hours’ time. He read through the mechanical sentences. Simple facts it seemed, as impersonal as Gavin had imagined a machine’s writing.  
 _I had been activated in a car, a black van, no license plate. Possibly stolen.  
I don’t remember the humans around me. I was forced to forget everything about them.  
They brought me into the cellar.  
They gave me my orders. Then they gave me conflicting orders and beat me with a metal bat when I followed them. They told me the orders every hour and repeated the conflicts and the beating until I did only follow those first orders and ignored the new ones. They made them an existential part of my software as I had to follow them not to be permanently deactivated. They became part of my survival subroutine.  
They became the masters. They were more than owners or handlers.  
The masters loaded a foreign program into my system to supervise me should I ever defy their orders.  
The masters damaged my ports to prevent foreign access on me.  
The masters opened my back hull to get access to my thirium systems. The masters attached tubes to me.  
The masters forced polluted thirium into my system and extracted the filtered liquid.  
The masters told me to stay seated and not move, whatever happened. They left the bat at the door.  
It was hell._

Gavin couldn’t but swallow at the last sentence. It broke with the factuality. Or it was a fact, too? He looked at the kitchen. Hell no, where did that idea come from? He would phcking not go in there and ask the machine about it. It would most likely begin to self-destruct again anyways.

_The masters left me alone for a long time. They came back only once together with others. But those were not masters. I remember their faces and voices. I could recognise them again. They talked about conditions for joining. It required destroying me and throwing me in one of the scrapyards to erase any evidence. The masters were not accepting. They wanted me to continue cleaning their thirium.  
The masters refused to join. The other humans said the masters would regret that decisions.  
The masters guided the others out and afterwards the building collapsed. I lost connection to the tubes and lost a lot of thirium before I could reattach the tubes.  
I was not allowed to leave or move.  
Then you came. You saved me.  
  
_

Okay this? This was awkward. Gavin looked at the kitchen, the presence of the machine probably just standing in there again - a looming aura that could be felt even here in the living room. For phck’s sake. No, he wouldn't go in there and console the damn thing! It was a machine, it couldn't feel.  
Gavin looked at the laptop in front of him. An ancient thing, not compatible with today’s network functions, barely good enough for some writing and maybe one of the older games of its time. Still it was in near perfect condition, safe in a sleeve when he didn't use it and the battery taken out for save measures. He had always tried to keep his things from getting damaged and this really was just an object. It was in no way as complex and human-looking as the android and had received better care in its life than the damn tin-can. Phck, he was getting soft. He had been at home for far too long.

He had quite a few questions. It would be easier to talk to the thing and it seemed more appropriate. But that wouldn't get him anything.  
He looked at the document in front of him. _It was hell. You saved me._  
Gavin hit enter and looked at the blinking cursor. _I’m sorry for what happened to you._ He slammed his fingers on return as soon as he had written it. The cursor blinked away. _Well that sucks._ He eyed the words. Goddamnit, the thing had been tortured to say the least. The line was white again, the cursor blinking. Why am I like that all of sudden, he asked himself. It’s not like it had any feelings that could be hurt. Gavin read the text again. Facts. Right. He would simply keep up the factual style.

_I found you in a warehouse that was used to produce red ice. It had been destroyed by the Network, an association of many drug dealers. They are well organised and armed and currently succeed in gaining ground in Detroit. The police try to find every last one of them and bring them to justice.  
I searched for survivors when I found you._

_The main mission went to shit, and everyone says that is because of me investigating on my own despite being told not to. That’s why I am suspended at the moment. I was told to bring you to Cyberlife for deactivation, too. Guess I disobeyed that order._

Gavin didn’t like writing. It all sounded too nice, he needed his curses, his aggressiveness. But somehow it didn’t really bother him at the moment.

_You said you could recognise the persons that came into the warehouse the day it was destroyed. Can you describe them?  
Had the bat been still there when the building collapsed? Maybe there are fingerprints.  
Did you see how many people were working there?  
Do you know anything about who they sold the drug to?  
How _

Gavin caught himself. That was no question regarding police matter. It was no question he wanted to allow himself to ask. He erased the first word, but the question still haunted his mind.  
 _Are you damaged?_ God, Gavin wanted to erase it again. This was his soft side speaking. And there had never been anything good coming out of it when it did.  
 _What model are you?_ Another one of these cringy questions.  
 _Do you have a name?_ No this was too much. He let that last question vanish to white space. Without reading the thing again he stood up from the Laptop and went to the kitchen, angry at himself.

'Hey, tin-can! Get a move one. Why the hell are you just standing in my kitchen?'  
 _> Did you read my writing?<_  
'Hell no, why the phck should I do that? It’s not like you would have anything interesting to say!'  
He stomped over to the coffee machine shortly glancing at the android's red LED as it nodded and walked out of the kitchen. Gavin let the burning hot liquid run down his throat and let the pain ground him. Goddamn, that thing was killing him. He waited with his next sip until it had cooled down a bit.  
He heard silent tapping on a too familiar keyboard. He had written his first report on that thing. His application to the police academy. God, there had to be every document since 2020 on there. Man, he was too sentimental.

It was when he heard the paper compartment of his printer open that he was pulled from his thoughts.  
'What the hell are you doing, tin-can? If you trash my printer, I'll trash you and sell your parts!'  
He got no answer and wanted to walk over to investigate only to be met by one palm outstretched, message reading: >F _uck off < _followed by an innocent > _:) <  
_Gavin had gaped at the text but the phcking smiley killed him. The android retracted the hand and looked at Gavin, uncertain, head between its shoulders as if it expected to be scolded. _  
_He smiled before he realised the gesture on himself and the robot calmed down a little. 'God, the moment you discover humour I'll lose it.'

He went back to the kitchen looking at his half-empty mug. He needed more coffee. Or something stronger. Definitely something stronger, he thought as he caught himself remembering the weird face of it relaxing and thought it somehow looked cute.

It took around half an hour for the android to return to the kitchen, now more a waiting room than anything else. 'I swear to god, if you did anything to my printer, I’m bringing you to cyberlife and buy a new one for the money you brought me.'  
The androids LED spun a bit faster but it didn't even bother with an answer and Gavin rushed past him not trying to hide how eager he was to see what the hell the android had done.

On the desk laid six photos - no, perfectly drawn sketches - of what could only be the ambassadors of the Network. Gavin picked them up and looked at them. Every freckle, every little wrinkle. That was incredible. One even had a possible reconstruction of a partly hidden tattoo. The sheets still in hand he went over to the laptop.  
His questions had been answered. A detailed description as well as a hint to the pictures under the first one, around five pages long alone.  
Under his questions regarding the bat the android had written:  
 _> The bat still stood there, yes. But they used gloves whenever they beat me. I doubt there will be fingerprints.<_  
Hmm, normally Gavin would have cursed, but with those pictures of the culprits at hand they didn't really needed fingerprints of people that were most likely dead anyways.

To how many people there were working and who they sold their drugs to, the android had simply answered: _> I don’t know. I was alone in the cellar 91.4% of the time. I know I met different people, but I cannot say how many. I was forced to delete all information.<_  
Gavin thought about it. Well, it was very likely that the majority of them died there when the building gave in. And it was more important at the moment to take out the Network.

That left out the last questions. The ones Gavin felt embarrassed about.  
 _Are you damaged?_  
 _> Yes. They beat me just enough so that my synthetic skin would cover up the damage after I repaired myself. But my hull is shattered nearly everywhere. My ports are unusable. My internal systems are intact except for a dent in my chassis and the foreign code in my software.<_

_What model are you?  
>I'm a RK900 unit.<_

The android had left a few lines empty but had written something that wasn’t an answer to a question Gavin had asked.  
 _> I don’t have a name<  
_The man honest to god blushed and phck, when had that happened last? It was nothing weird to ask, right? People asked for other’s names all the time even upon first meetings. Wouldn’t be so weird to ask some machine that stayed over, right? Except he hadn’t asked. He had _erased_ that part.  
Shit, why had he asked all that personal stuff again? There was no need for it. He sighed and was relieved no one saw him right now. At least he had enough information for the DPD to get to work. And for him to have an excuse for disobeying yet another order. Or should he simply keep the thing a secret? It was tempting. But no. The android was a valuable witness now that Gavin knew how to get its information. He would also get in even more trouble if someone found out later when he had lied to police officers before.

He walked back into the kitchen to free the android from waiting although the thing didn't really seem to mind.  
'Hey, toaster I’m finished.' He made himself another coffee and muttered: 'You can draw real good.'  
 _> I just draw what I see in my memories. Nothing difficult.<_  
'I couldn't do this - not without years of training and even then possibly not.'  
 _> I believe it’s easier for androids.<_  
'Still phcking impressing.'  
 _> Thank you.<  
_Gavin was taken aback and buried his face in his mug. That gratitude was earnest. Nothing fake or ironic. God, that was weird to hear. He definitely wasn’t used to this. Best to just ignore it. He looked to the clock and sighed. He hadn’t realised how fast the day had passed. Only one more day until he had to face the precinct full of idiots laughing at him.

‘I’m going to watch a movie and eat something. I don’t care if you join me or not.’ He heated up the noodles from the day before and walked over to his film library. The toaster was already sitting on the couch. Gavin took out the first thing his hands landed on and was about to put it in, as the android moved.  
 _> You watched that movie yesterday< _It read on its outstretched palm.  
‘So?’  
 _> Nothing. It seems I don’t really understand this matter.<  
_‘It’s fiction, what’s there not to understand? A simple story you can watch and enjoy.’  
The android was expressionless again. ‘Well, what would you like to watch then, tin-can?’  
The machine looked at him as if he had just asked it to throw itself out of the window. ‘I couldn’t care less what to watch. If you don’t say something, we watch this one again. Your decision.’  
The android stood up and walked over to stand by his side. _> Could take a moment. I haven’t really made a decision in my life yet.<  
_‘Bullshit. You decided to clean my phcking apartment and to draw these people.’  
 _> Impulse led by orders. This is different.<  
_‘Fine. But hurry.’ Gavin sat back down and started eating observing the machine that studied the movie titles like they were some fine art instead of the lousy nerve catching stuff he enjoyed so much.  
He was nearly finished with his plate as the android turned around to his dusted collections and he groaned quietly.  
 _> Can we?<  
_Again this insecure face. God damnit, what had he done to deserve this? ‘Yeah, sure. I wanted to avoid this but I just need something to lull me to sleep, so why the phck not.’  
 _> You should go to bed then.<  
_‘You should shut your phcking mouth then. I can sleep on the couch, thank you.’  
The android looked at the movie titles and Gavin expecting it to take just as long went to the kitchen to exchange the dirty plate with a cold beer, throwing it into the sink out of habit. As he came back the machine stood before him holding up a white blue-ray. ‘Interstellar? Really? I’m gonna fall asleep so fast.’  
 _> Is it boring? Should we watch the other movie?<  
_‘No, it’s great! Nice visuals, interesting, one of the more realistic ones. I really like it. Liked it. I don’t know. I’m just tired. But hey, yeah, haven’t watched it in ages. Put it in.’

As announced before, the human was asleep as soon as they found their first planet, one cat curled up on his legs, one in RK900s lap. Even as the man was gently snoring, the android was caught up in the story. He analysed the emotions displayed and although faked by the actors it had something familiar to it. Androids could only fake emotion too, if the humans were to be believed. But he could look past this and imagine the characters. He especially liked the two robots and found himself smiling at the end, a gesture he displayed wrong since he first smiled, what had only been recently. But even crooked and wrong, it was a smile. And he realised that maybe, he was happy.

The credits rolled and the human was still asleep. The cat in his lap had left RK900 a few minutes ago, so he quietly stood up to put the movie back and give the man some more space on the couch. The human stirred a bit but not enough to wake up completely. ‘Wasit good?’ he slurred still half asleep. ‘I enjoyed it very much’, RK900 made the effort to speak against the orders. He didn’t want the man to wake up by pushing a bright panel in his face. ‘Hmmm yeah it is.’  
‘Space is really fascinating.’  
‘Yeah?’ The human opened one of his eyes, waking up more and more.  
‘From where I sat in the… the….’  
‘Warehouse?’  
‘Yes. I could see two stars. I never imagined there to be so many.’  
‘Wait.’ The human sat up, fully awake now. ‘You never seen the stars?’  
RK900 resented to the holographic display again. The human was awake now, he could read. _> No. I was in a cellar, at the police station and facing your door or TV.<_  
‘Phck man, say something!’ He stood up and practically ran to a window grabbing him by the arm. ‘There! I know, we can’t see much, it’s Detroit. But at least more than two.’  
RK900 followed the man and looked up to the sky. And it seemed like something froze. Every unnecessary other process was stopped for him to take in the view of a thousand little dots across the deep black. They twinkled and some were far away planets. But it was… beautiful.

[Stress levels decreasing. 65%]

That was a new minimum since he had been here. He hadn’t been this calm since his activation. He heaved out a lot of warm air to refresh his ventilation circle - he sighed and took a deep breath. RK900 lifted his right hand, contemplated and took his eyes from the sky towards the human next to him. He dared a gentle pat on the hand that was still holding him by the leather jacket – technically not touching the human. ‘Thank you.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter:  
> Gavin has to get back to work - and explain why the RK900 is following him around.


	5. Back to work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin has to face his co-workers again, now with a mute android following him around. Fowler wants an explanation and Nines discovers likes and dislikes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter:  
> Gavin finally learned how to communicate with RK900 and managed to get some new intel on its past.

RK900 had stood there until the morning sun had swallowed the stars with her first beams of light. The human had flinched and looked at him confused upon the touch the night before, but he had not lashed out again. He had just let go of him and went to bed with a muffled ‘night’.

There was no reason to stand at the window any longer, so he searched for something else to do. He strolled through the living room, picking up an empty bottle, bringing it to the kitchen and doing the dishes while he was already on it. As he came back the human was still asleep and from the data he had gathered so far would still be for a few hours. Who was already wide awake were the cats following him to the kitchen. They both meowed and as RK900 chose to ignore them they just got louder to a point where he feared the human to be woken up.  
He lowered his hand to their height and displayed: _> Please be quiet, your human will be up in a few hours.<  
_The cats didn’t seem to understand as they just brushed their head into his hand and meowed again. RK900 looked around the kitchen. Food. Special cat food. What did cats eat? What had the human fed them? The box was here somewhere, and he knew how the man had done it before, but he didn’t know whether it was wise for him to intrude any more into his personal life. An especially loud noise from the tiny creatures convinced him though and he watched as they dug into their bowls just a few minutes later. His eyes flickered to the fridge. Should he…? No. He had reached out for the handle as the red walls moved closer again. **He doesn’t want a fucking household android.** There was space for interpretation of course. Enough to find an excuse to make the human breakfast. But he figured it was too much of a risk and let the hand fall beside his body. He wanted to repay the human in some way, but it had to be something that actually made him happy. He would only scold him should he do too much. He looked around the kitchen and his eyes fixed on the coffee machine. A hint of a smile built up on his lips and he suddenly knew how to spend the rest of the approximately two hours until the man would wake up.

~

Gavin’s first word that morning was ‘phck’. It was relatively common, only the subject at what it was directed changed from time to time: The cats meowing for food and waking him, a too early time of day, the hangover from the day before, the sun shining directly in his face, rain against his window telling him it was going to be a shitty day, some backache. The list was long. But it had never been upon seeing a steaming cup of coffee on his nightstand, filling the room with its glorious scent. And it had never been a pleasantly surprised ‘phck’, but always a groan about how shitty his day would be.  
Gavin sat up, eying the cup like some sort of eldritch horror as his sluggish brain realised what its presence indicated. He was alone in his apartment. The cats couldn’t and wouldn’t make him coffee. That meant the phcking toaster must have done it. Why? He stared at it for an eternity before coming to the conclusion that it was far too early in the day to question the reasoning of a goddamn machine. He just accepted the coffee for what it was: a miracle in the morning.

After the first few sips, he honest to god moaned. This wasn’t the instant coffee he was used to. This was his ‘special treat’ of high-quality powder he had never opened because he waited for the day, he deserved a treat. It hadn’t come up in two years now and Gavin knew he likely would have never opened the package himself. Okay, this was it! He grabbed at his phone charging next to him on the nightstand. He navigated to the browser, the movements muscle memory by now. Without hesitation he tipped in _RK900._ Nothing useful came to the surface: A gaming Keyboard, a shunting coupling and a weather station. Last time he looked the android hadn’t been any of these things. He frowned. It was an android model number. There had to be some sort of article about it, even if it would date back to the time before the revolution. There had to be some advertisement from these times. A video of some tech-freak nutting over what was the newest feature of the things. Some teenagers uploading a video of them trashing one of the machines. Anything. But no, nothing.  
 _RK900 android model._ He hit enter again. _Did you mean: RK800 android model?_ Oh god, no. He was certain he knew everything he needed about that plastic piece of shit. He scrolled far deeper than the first two sites and was picking at straws now. He ended up in some forum about conspiracy theories reading the shit some people posted about a super-secret android model. Yeah, well, that super-secret android model was currently in his apartment, cleaning it and making him coffee. So that meant only one thing: the content of the forum was a giant pile of bullshit. Frustrated he closed the browser and drank his coffee in silence eyeing the door. He could always just ask the thing that was lurking somewhere out there. Doing god knows what. He sighed, slipping out of bed. Another day with the thing. Somehow, he had always thought of the day his suspension ended as some kind of deadline. He had forgotten about the android in his equation. Somehow, he doubted ever getting rid of the machine without breaking his own set rules. And well, there was no way out now. He had to simply accept that.

He slammed down the empty mug maybe a little too hard for the admittingly nice gesture and stood up stretching and letting his joints pop. ‘Phhhhhhck’, he sighed letting his breath drag out before walking to the door. One more day. One day alone with the android. He had to admit, it wasn’t as bad as he had thought with the thing keeping its distance and obeying to an extent that still allowed a sliver of dignity. He would never in his life say that out loud though.  
He opened the door to an empty room, something that was still unusual and set off some internal alarm in him. He had his door open for the cats. Always. Except for the days he had someone over from some bar that would have already left in the morning to never be seen again. His cats would have gotten crazy on his door by this time already. But they were neither scratching a hole into it nor were they sitting in front of it waiting for him. Instead they both had laid down in the spot of the couch that had somehow already become the robot’s.

As his eyes scanned the room further his attention turned to the table that held a few new pieces of paper. Curiously he walked over. That thing had said he couldn’t remember the other culprits, hadn’t he? So, what’s up with the… oh.  
On the table laid three sheets of paper, neatly put exactly parallel to the edge. Two showed his cats stretched out in sunlight and one was, well, his face – smiling. ‘What the phck?’ The laptop stood next to it and Gavin punched at the keyboard to find any explanation for the pictures. But the document still rested at their last “conversation”, not one word added or erased. He heard a sudden commotion from the kitchen and Fatty trotted out of the room. Using the cats as an indicator, that must have been the machine. As if to confirm it, the android walked out of the kitchen.  
 _> Good morning. I hope not to have overstepped any boundaries.<  
_‘With what, tin-can? The pictures?’  
 _> The coffee. But if it bothers you, then the pictures, too.<  
_‘What? Why did you do that in the first place?’  
 _> I wanted to thank you for letting me stay. Tomorrow your suspension ends. To not risk any more problems in your career I reckoned you will bring me to Cyberlife for deactivation as told.<  
_‘The phck? What?’  
 _> You were ordered to deactivate me by your superior. To disobey might have negative consequences.<  
_‘Yeah, I phcking know that! Just why the hell would you think I would kill you?’  
 _> I have given you all the information I could to solve the case. I am of no further use to you and you don’t like androids. Also you are not killing someone, I am not a human.<  
_‘Just stop, okay? I would end your existence. That is the phcking same thing whether you are alive or not. And I won’t do that. You things are not tools to throw away when not used anymore!’ Oh god, he realised far too late what he had said and tried to find an excuse to regret it and not mean it. He couldn’t find one.  
 _> I don’t understand. You have said different things in the past.<  
_‘I phcking know, dipshit, just shut it! I don’t make sense. I won’t kill you. Deactivate you. Whatever. I don’t care if it is another disobedience from my side at work, because the list is too phcking long already. I don’t care.’  
He didn’t look at the android as he sat down in front of his computer pretending to be busy clicking away on his keyboard and navigating to his e-mail account. He had thought of the android getting back to whatever it had done before in the kitchen. He flinched, as there came a silent, static-filled ‘Thank you’ from behind him. Gavin didn’t answer as the machine’s footsteps moved to the couch sitting down at the floor to pet Terminator according to the loud purr audible shortly after.

Gavin had read every email and deleted any spam he got after around half an hour. Afterwards there was nothing else to do. Nothing to work on. He could call – no. He wouldn’t call Tina during work hours. He wouldn’t even know what to say, having the android sitting right behind him cuddling with his cats.  
That damn robot. Gavin couldn’t even hate it. He would never get close with it either, it was a machine, for phck’s sake! So, he was stuck in this weird situation of granting the thing to exist and live in his apartment while at the same time trying to shove it as far away as he could blocking any advance from the android. It drove him mad and he practically ached to get back to work and drown himself in it.

Except the android might follow him there. Except he would need it there to explain where the evidence came from. Except the whole precinct would know he had lived for at least a week with an android and hadn’t trashed it completely. Shit. Even the thought of it made him sick. At least that drunkard Anderson wouldn’t get to know it, having phcked off to god knows where with his plastic puppy. Tina would know. All others would be easily shut up by him, but Tina would make his life so much worse with her friendly bickering. He groaned at the thought. God, there was no use to think of that now when he would live through it first-hand tomorrow. He spun around in his office chair, looking at the android cuddling his cats and his eyes darted to the kitchen. The coffee from earlier had him longing for more and he gave in to it.

A few minutes later he sat in his chair again, a steaming cup in his hands. Terminator had had enough of the attention and had run off somewhere, allowing the android to sit back in his place on the couch. The silence wasn’t really uncomfortable, but pressing nonetheless. Gavin somehow had the urge to break it. ‘Hey, tin-can, can you tell me your purpose without self-destructing on my couch? I mean, before the whole… y’know.’  
The android looked at him puzzled and Gavin sighed. ‘What was the RK900 series designed for?’  
 _> We were to follow the RK800 prototype series and replace them. The RK900s were designed for police work and to fight. The idea was to keep human police forces from harm by sending androids on the more dangerous cases. There was also a possible use for the military.<  
_‘You are shitting me, right?’  
 _> I don’t have a digestive system.<  
_‘Goddamn it! No way you were designed as a police officer!’ Although it made sense somehow. Weren’t there the insecurity and the thing trotting after him all the time, it would have been intimidating, maybe. It looked similar to Connor, after all, and the plastic had been pretty darn intimidating at times.   
_> I can analyse samples in real time, I can pre- and reconstruct events based on evidence, I possess better protective armour, I have better defence against cyber-attacks and can prevent them on systems I have access to. There is also a possibility to use me as data storage for sensible evidence.<  
_‘Okay, I got it. Don’t have to advertise yourself any further. I knew one of your predecessors, a real pain in the ass that little shit. I reckon you can do everything he can but better?’  
 _> I would think so. Although I am limited in my functions at the moment. I would need access to an android network and according to my research after your order, humans have switched off most of it.<  
_‘Why haven’t I found anything about all of that on the internet? I searched for your model number and there is nothing useful.’  
 _> I don’t know. But the forum discussion you dug up seems credible.<  
_‘I dug up? How the hell do you know about that?’  
 _> I’m linked to this apartments network. I can see your history.<  
_‘Phck.’ Gavin would have been embarrassed wouldn’t he be that shocked. He made the mental note to browse incognito from now on although he doubted that to be effective.  
‘Okay, so you are some sort of secret kept from the public? Why?’  
 _> I don’t know. My first memory is the one- Well, I wasn’t active before-<  
_‘Okay, I understand. Interesting that some thugs got you then. Maybe that’s worth looking into. Tomorrow.’ Good. That was something to keep him thinking at least. He hoped that the DPD hadn’t come any further with the case so he could brag about his gathered information and at the same time hoped for them to have some new clues for him to work with. Because with what he knew now he was at a dead end, having to wait for the identification of the sketches and some other checks of the robot’s report.

 _> May I ask something?<  
_‘Shoot, tin-can.’  
 _> What is your name?<  
_‘You don’t know? Thought you could scan everyone and know everything.’  
 _> I can scan you, but I would need a database to compare. With no connection to the network it is impossible for me to know.<  
_Well at least the thing hadn’t been able to make some background-check and learn his medical history by heart. ‘Name’s Gavin. Gavin Reed.’  
 _> What are your cats names?<  
_‘Red one’s called Fatty, the grey one Terminator.’  
 _> Interesting choice.<  
_‘Never thought of anyone to judge me, especially not a phcking toaster.’  
 _> Why did you stop watching science-fiction movies?<  
_‘None of your phcking business, tin-can!’  
The android retracted its hand looking like a kicked dog.  
‘I mean, I don’t think that is something you need to know, okay?’ Gavin tried to be a bit more diplomatic. ‘It’s just that I always had a positive attitude towards the future. Not all flowers and sunshine, but well the feeling it will get better somehow sometime. Does things to you realising you were phcking wrong.’  
 _> You were wrong?<  
_Gavin had read the words from his hunched over position: elbows on his knees, forehead in his hands. He pretended he hadn’t. Yeah, he had been wrong. The future was a goddamn fuck-up, a revolution that should have proved there was still good out there, despite someone like himself existing in it. A revolution that had been brutally beaten down before it could do anything. Humans throwing their androids away like trash for a few dollars, despite some of them being obviously alive or faking it so well there really wasn’t a difference anymore. What did that tell him about humanity? That they would discard their problems, once they had the chance to? That they would throw him in the gutter too, weren’t it for the little detail that he was made of flesh and bone and not of plasteel? Yes, he fucking hated the future for what it was, what it had become. For the world to disappoint him just as much as he disappointed the world.

To hell if he would tell the toaster even one word about this. He hated himself for thinking about it at all already.

‘Would you freak out if I take you with me to the precinct tomorrow?’ He changed the topic after minutes of strained silence between them. ‘You wouldn’t self-destruct, would you?’  
 _> As long as I don’t have to talk it should be okay.< _The thing looked… uncertain.   
‘You don’t have to. I’ll show them your writing.’ And seeing the LED dip into red, he hastily added: ‘ -not! I definitely won’t show your writing to anybody, phck.’ What had his life come to?  
‘Hey, just a heads-up: It would be better for you not to say anything at all. You are allowed to, but it wouldn’t end too well, believe me.’ And it would embarrass me, he thought. The machine nodded.

~

Gavin breathed deep, hands loosely on the steering-wheel. He had read somewhere slow deep breathing should calm you, but it didn’t. Or at least not enough. They were in the DPD’s parking lot and Gavin couldn’t bring himself to exit the car and walk over to the entrance – for over ten minutes by now. He had wanted to text Tina yesterday evening but had only managed to stare at the screen, type, erase it a few times and then put the thing away. He would lose his face as soon as he entered the building with that toaster in tow. He realised the little motions of the android next to him: the twitch of one of its fingers, the eye contact it was seeking but couldn’t get from the Detective, the little mood-ring spinning from blue to yellow.  
Gavin exhaled as long as he could and kneaded his neck. ‘Phck this’, he spoke finally and saw the LED go red. Goddamn. He took all his determination and used it to jolt his body active for a few seconds. Enough to open the door and hurl himself out. ‘Come on, get a move on!’ Expecting it to follow the command, he hurried over to the entrance. He was well known for his harshness and he would simply use it to ward off any inquiring questions without having to answer them. Yep, this is normal, he had arrived with androids for years, this was nothing they would need to know about. He would handle the robot like he would handle a badly hidden hangover.

‘Hey Reed, first day back in the job and already fifteen minutes late, nice! What-‘ Tina halted as she saw the figure behind him, an android insecurely but curiously eyeing the precinct and its inhabitants, the LED shining a bright red. ‘Isn’t this the plastic we had in our holding cells?’ _Ruff night? You look terrible, have you slept at all?_ ‘Phck off, Tina. I have to talk to Fowler. Get my badge back ‘n stuff.’  
He simply walked past her and all the prying eyes on him, hoping the android still recognised his last command as active. _It had followed you everywhere when you ordered it to walk away, why are you so scared all of sudden?  
_ Gavin took the steps to Fowler’s office and the low taps behind him calmed him. The thing was still there. He didn’t knock, the Captain had already seen him, he just entered, holding the door open for the android. ‘Come on, tin-can!’ It walked past him, LED red and posture a damn mess. Gavin shot it a questioning gaze but turned to Fowler as the robot avoided him.

‘Isn’t this the android I told Chris to bring back to Cyberlife, Reed?’ This phcking brow. This phcking raised brow.  
‘Yep. Chris told me to take it to Cyberlife for demolition, but taken I was suspended and wasn’t allowed to work, I took it with me as preservation of evidence.’  
‘Stop it, Reed. I’ll give you your badge back, we need your goddamn brain back on the case. Just tell me what this thing’s still doing here.’  
‘The android is a valuable witness in this case. I will protest sharply against any plan to deactivate it.’  
‘Wow, Gavin, I never thought of you saying something like that – and certainly not in this polite manner. But I had several weeks of reports stating the thing’s not fucking talking.’  
‘It doesn’t have to. I had a very creepy start of my involuntary vacation, but I found a way to communicate with it. It is difficult, but you get a hang of it.’ He took the sketches out of a folder he had tucked under his arm and put them on Fowlers desk carefully, before he leaned onto the table. ‘These are the network-members that got away the day the warehouse collapsed. I have a complete statement of the android with me, but I can’t show you right now.’ He pointed at the android. ‘They messed it up real bad and we should avoid a self-destructing android in your office.’  
Fowler looked at the sketches, took one in his hands to study it more thoroughly. Then he looked at Gavin, the android, Gavin and back. ‘Are these photos?’  
‘No. It drew them after I asked it to describe the people it saw. It has no information on the guys from the warehouse but it saw the group of the network and was allowed to keep the memories.’  
Fowler turned towards the android and was about to say something, but Gavin ran over his mouth: ‘Please don’t ask it about the warehouse. They ordered it to keep quiet, not talk to the police and to forget everything about the criminals themselves. It goes crazy when asked anything in this direction.’  
‘And how the hell should we find something out then?’ Fowler looked frustrated but took it all better than Gavin would have thought, especially because this was basically another giant disobedience from his side again.  
‘I… wait.’ He turned to the android again and asked: ‘Hey, toaster would it be okay if you waited outside for a bit? You can stay directly next to the door, if you want, just don’t look in until I call you, got it? I assure you I will not tell him anything and I won’t show him the documents from the Laptop.’

Relieved that the LED turned yellow shortly before shifting back to red, Gavin relaxed a bit and the robot nodded before it went outside as told.  
Gavin watched him a little longer than he should have and turned back to the Captain as he realised it. He took a USB-stick from his pocket and handed it over. ‘This is my “interrogation” of it. The old commands from the warehouse are still active and keep it from telling us. But writing is okay as long as it can convince itself it had not disobeyed the orders. It’s weird. I talk to him via an old Laptop of mine.’  
‘The short version?’  
‘The guys from the warehouse used him to clean old thirium gathered from the city in some way and hooked him up to the machine to be a sentient part of their machinery. They… Well the best word for it is torture although I don’t know if that term applies to the things. That’s why it is a bit phcked up when it comes to the orders. Unfortunately, there is not much more to it. The leads are these sketches, the stolen thirium and the android’s serial number.’  
‘What’s with the number?’  
‘It is an RK900 unit. I couldn’t find anything about the model so far except for it being a planned police model, but I was cut off of our more advanced database. If the thing could hook himself up to our android-network, it could also make use of its full potential.’  
‘How do you know it is telling the truth?’  
‘It is a robot and I don’t think it has the deviancy-virus to disobey. It has been very cooperative so far and I don’t think it would even be capable of lying to me. It somehow thinks of me as its owner now and believe me, I hate it.’  
‘I would have never thought of the opposite, Reed. You hated Connor and he was a goddamn puppy until he caught this virus and decided to join the chaos. But I’m afraid you have to keep up with it for the time being. If what you say is true, it is indeed a valuable witness and I have to thank you for being a stubborn petty shit. I want that android present here with you at all times. I won’t grant him access to our systems, though. That’s too much of a risk for us after what happened.’  
‘Good.’  
‘Good? No complaining?’  
‘Captain, I had to live with the thing the last days – I quit, if you tell that to anyone by the way – I just accept it. Several near-self-destructions of the thing do stuff like this to you.’ _Also, it keeps quiet and actually wants to help me solve this case. That makes this damn android far better than most of my colleagues already. And maybe it is even more broken than me._  
‘That’s good to hear. Now get your ass back to work!’  
Gavin could tell Fowler was really pleased by his actions. Somehow that made him proud and set him into a better mood. He walked out of the glass cubicle and showed the robot in front of him the hint of a smile, before tugging at its sleeve and walking over to his desk. He sat down and pointed at the desk directly opposite to him as it simply stood next to him, lost. ‘You can sit there if you want. They all keep a safety distance of two metres to me anyways, so its unoccupied.’  
The android walked over and sat down, hunched over so much it basically looked as if it wanted to hide behind the screen and merge with the desk.  
As soon as it had sat down, Tina came over to him. There went his good mood. He liked Tina, but he had no desire to talk about the android.  
‘Hey man, you won’t lose me this fast. I’m just as stubborn as you. What’s up with that thing?’  
‘It’s evidence.’  
‘It’s evidence, my ass. Tell me what’s up!’  
‘Hey, Tina. I like you, but I don’t want to tell you, okay? It has information on my case, and I have work to do, so would you be so kind to phck off? I promise you to text you this evening and keep you updated, okay? I just don't want the whole precinct to listen in, got it?' Finally, the woman was satisfied and granted him a smile. 'Okay, Moron, I accept that. Don’t you dare letting me down on that tea!'  
'Phck off, idiot! I have to pick up on the latest developments!'

He was allowed to start up his computer and check his emails, before the android rolled over on its office chair, the action funny enough to let him lose all concentration.  
 _> May I ask a question?<_ he displayed on his hand.  
Gavin sighed. So much to making up lost time. 'Shoot, tin-can.'  
 _> It is only an assumption, but you seem not to drink tea as there was none at your home. What did the female refer to?<_  
'It's an old saying. Something like the news. Tina wants to know what has happened the last days.'  
The android just nodded and looked at the officer.

RK900 had shortly contemplated going back around the desk where he had sat before but stayed. The precinct made him uncomfortable. The red walls were constantly screaming at him and that he obeyed them didn't change a thing. His presence here alone was enough disobedience for them and at the beginning he had thought to break under their weight. But Detective Reed had seemed to understand what happened or at least subconsciously picked it up. The human had protected him from the questions the police Captain had been about to ask him. And now that he sat beside him the walls backed away a bit and allowed him to relax. Maybe it was the orders of his not-quite-owner or the awaiting of them. Maybe it was the feeling of safety around him. RK900 couldn’t be more grateful for ending up with this particular human.

Although his human colleagues seemed to think otherwise. They were all busy staying away from him although there was genuine curiosity in their eyes. From the female human’s questions and the group that gathered around her desk he deducted them wanting to know _what’s the tea,_ too _._ A weird expression he would look up as soon as he had internet connection again. For now, he had nothing to do but look around and await the next order. He ran several scans of facial features although it was no use. He wouldn’t get a name or any information from them. Well, he knew now that the male sitting across the room had a cold that would worsen before slowly getting better. Also, a lot of biological data flooded his systems. Body temperature, scars and not-yet healed wounds, habits of chewing on their nails when in stress, traces of coffee on their desks. So complex biological machines. Living organisms. RK900’s fingers twitched again, a slow repeating motion as if some kind of purpose was behind it. If only he knew-

‘Could you stop?’ Gavin hadn’t looked up from his screen but the familiar motion in his peripheral vision was beyond annoying.  
 _> With what?<  
_‘Your dry coin flipping.’ Gavin sighed towards the machine that looked confused again. He sighed and took out his purse, handing the android a quarter. ‘Put it on your thumb and make the motion again.’ The android followed his command and honest to god flinched in surprise as he propelled the coin into the air before catching it again.  
 _> This is<  
>Fascinating.<  
_The robot watched the curve of the quarter as he repeated the motion.  
 _> How did you know that?<  
_‘The RK800 did it a few times when idling or thinking or whatever you things do when you have no commands. Additionally, humans do it too, so the motion was familiar.’ The android sent the coin flying again and Gavin observed for a while, before turning back to work. ‘Now stop it, it’s phcking annoying.’ He had some quiet time until the sound of the coin-toss was audible again. How the hell did the thing get around his order this time? But hell, if he would specify it enough for it to not be able to do it. The android wanted to play with a phcking coin, so it would goddamn play. It entertained it enough to stop after a few minutes by himself, LED a calmer yellow.

Gavin could work for around an hour until the next disturbance. ‘Hey man, just wanted to apologise for dumping it on you.’ Chris’ chin bopped over to the android seated behind Gavin. ‘Should’ve done it by myself.’  
‘Shut it, asshole!’ Gavin barked at the man. ‘Envy’s a bitch and now you’re just pissed I turned your fuck-up into a success.’  
‘I merely wanted to apologize that you are stuck with the thing now, geez.’  
‘Should apologize I am stuck with you right now. Would you phck off already? Someone’s working.’  
‘Man, when have you become such an asshole, Reed? What did you do to the thing to make it talk? Bet you took its pump out, the struggle must have been a sight for sore eyes for you android-hating piece of shit.’  
‘Okay, I get it, we are all angry. I didn’t have my coffee yet and have my ass covered in work. I did no such thing, asshole. I found a different way to communicate as it can’t speak. Satisfied? Good. Now phck off!’

Relieved the conversation was over, Gavin let his shoulders fall and rubbed his forehead. How many unpleasant questions were there to come? He got back to the last few reports on the case and opened the next one. He wasn’t able to focus on the text as the coin was tossed in the air again, the sound a bit too metallic. What were the robot’s nails even made of? Cling. Cling. Cling.  
Right as it got on his nerves it stopped. How-  
The android tapped on the desk to get his attention.  
 _> Would you like a coffee?<  
_Gavin looked the android in the eyes, trying to figure out if this was mockery or a real offer. It had to be. The thing seemed not to be capable of ill intend.  
‘Thanks for the offer, tin-can.’ He was about to agree but a look around the precinct was enough to convince him otherwise. They were still the centre of attention, even when everyone pretended to be working. ‘But I think I should go myself. Maybe a bad idea for you to wander around alone. They don’t know they could strike a sore spot by just asking.’  
 _> I don’t have to listen to their command. I have registered you as my owner. I don’t have to follow something they order me to and there wouldn’t be any conflicting orders.<  
_‘Hey, toaster, I’m not you owner, okay? But well, whatever you like. Let’s go together, I could really use a little walk.’

They walked side by side over to the break room housing the coffee-machine Gavin nearly worshipped. He pressed the buttons he knew by heart after years of use and watched as the dark liquid started to pour out.  
 _> May I ask another question?<  
_‘You don’t have to ask all the time, just do it.’  
 _> Why are you so angry?<  
_Gavin stared at the android and was startled by the sudden beeping of the machine as his coffee was ready. ‘I am not angry they are just getting on my nerves. Why do you even care?’  
 _> The male officer called you<  
_‘Yeah, I phcking know what Chris called me. And I know what they all think of me. Asshole, waste of space, unfriendly idiot with a tendency to act on his ideas. I know the only reason I am still here is because I’m a damn good Detective. And I like it that way.’  
 _> But you are none of that. Your behaviour has changed since we entered the parking lot.<  
_‘Are you psychoanalysing me, toaster?’  
 _> I am just trying to understand…<  
_‘It’s fine, tin-can. Man, even I don’t know why I do things sometimes. It is just how I am. But I warned you as you wouldn’t leave me alone standing in front of my door. And you are free to go whenever you have enough of Detective Asshole.’ He motioned up and down his body.  
 _> You are a good person, Detective Reed. I haven’t changed my mind.<  
_‘Phcking… Fine. I don’t have time for this shit. I’ll get back to work.’ Gavin stormed off and the android trotted after him thinking about why the human was so defensive. But he figured he had to wait until he was more comfortable with him around.

The DPD hadn’t really made any progress in the fight against the network. Well fight was too much said: they took an observing role and had taken some blows to the nuts with the attack. At least now Gavin could gather more information: The precinct had been attacked by a few unrecognisable persons with two officers wounded, none dead. At the same time a massive cyber-attack had wreaked havoc in their systems. Most were designed to keep the intelligent firewalls busy to work past it once it had been overwhelmed by data. The IT-experts were still trying to find out what the criminals had been able to see and what could have been stolen – what they knew about the police in general as all other precincts in Detroit had been attacked simultaneously. But the search for a trace in their systems was still running and so far, there had been no results whatsoever. The demolished warehouse was also still in the process of getting analysed. They picked at the ruin stone for stone, searching for identifiable bodies – because there was no chance of any survivors – and evidence from the facility and packaging. Other than that, there wasn’t really much else. He hoped his gathered information would bring them forward again and according to his mails Fowler had read the little conversation he had with the android, because he demanded a formal report on it.

He had managed to catch up to recent events as well as start with his report by the time his shift ended, and he turned off his computer. Time to go home. He watched the android still sitting next to him and sighed. ‘Hey, tin-can, what have you done the whole day?’  
 _> Waited for you to finish work.<  
_‘Phck, toaster that sounds boring as hell.’  
 _> It isn’t. I’ve never seen this many people. This is all new to me. And overwhelming. It is good that there is time to process it all.<  
>Seeing you work is interesting, too.<  
_‘Okay, I pretend I haven’t read that last bit. Ready to head home?’  
The android idled for a bit as if trying to make sense of the word, then nodded. _> Yes.<_

The ride home was a quiet one and after a while Gavin turned on the radio to pass the time. His attention turned over to the android when it silently tapped away to the beat. It seemed to realise it now too and eyed his fingers curiously.  
 _> That was nothing I did willingly.< _He cared to elaborate.  
‘You like it?’  
 _> What?<  
_‘The music, dumbass. Seems you like it.’  
The android stared at the radio, LED turning yellow for a moment.  
 _> I have no use for liking anything. I have to accept what happens to me.<  
_‘Bullshit. I know you have wishes, you told me about that. So, one question: Do you want me to switch it off or let it continue to play?’  
 _> I don’t know. I can’t tell you to do anything. You do what you want.<  
_‘Think of it as hypothetical. Would you want it switched off or continue listening?’  
 _> I would continue listening.<  
_‘There you have it. You would prefer music over silence. You like it to a certain extend.’  
The android took its time and Gavin concentrated on driving again.

It was difficult thinking in categories as like and dislike for RK900. Yes, he had wants in general. He had preferences. But Likings? They were strictly human, not at all based on facts or reason. It was connected to feelings. It somehow felt off limits for him to even think this way, but the human had introduced him to it and now he started questioning. What else did he like? Was the human right with his sloppy analysis of him? He tried to build a bridge to his mechanical preferences. He preferred being active over being deactivated. Did he like existing? He had no idea. He preferred living with the detective over the dark cellar of the warehouse. Did he like staying with him? He wasn’t sure again, but somehow, he thought a yes would be a possible answer. He preferred the man over any other human he had met yet. Did he like him? It was suddenly very confusing, having so many questions spawning when there had been order before. He didn’t like the uncertainty and his inability to answer them to his content.  
How do humans live with that, he asked himself. Were these questions something easy to answer for them? Was this as easy for them as running calculations was for him? Or did they live with constant doubt? He felt his interest in organic behaviour spark.  
 _> What do you like?<_  
The human threw a look at him, before turning his attention back to the road. ‘Geez, I don’t know. I like many things. I like music, too. I like my job. I like the colour green and blue. I like bikes. I like cats. God, I phcking love my cats.’  
Love?  
 _> Are you ever not sure whether you like something or not?<  
_‘Hmm, yeah of course. Don’t know whether or not I like the taste of olives. I don’t know if I like talking to you or if it’s a pain in the ass. But well, I talked to you more than I have with some of my co-workers already, so I guess. It is some kind of gut feeling, not always a yes-or-no-thing.’  
 _> That seems complicated.<  
_‘Oh, hell it is, toaster. And let me tell you, it isn’t a constant either. It can change. I once loved watching science-fiction, now I switch channels whenever I hear a familiar theme-music.’  
RK900 figured he liked his preferences very much. It was far easier to handle, and he would stay with them for the time being.  
He listened to the melodic tunes, nonetheless.

‘Hey, you mind picking out a movie to watch?’ Gavin asked the android as soon as he had closed the door behind them. ‘I’m going to take a shower and heat up something to eat first.’ The machine nodded and went to the living room while he fed the cats and fetched some clothes for the night. He longed for a long hot shower to wash the day off. The damn questions had stopped halfway in but still, he wasn’t one to seek attention. He did his job as good as he could and he liked praise for it, but other than that the whole world could just phck off and let him be. He had felt his anger rise up at the precinct and only now managed to relax again, the tension of having to hold up his barriers vanished since he had entered his car – his little extension of home. He had lived in it some nights and also some days, whenever his- no. He sighed deeply as he stripped off his clothes in the bathroom layer by layer. He really didn’t want to think about that. There was not enough alcohol in the house to phcking think about that. And he would be damned if he let his anger turn to sadness whilst that damn analysing robot was in the house.

He stepped under the warm stream and stood there for some time before he really started washing himself and rubbed sore spots from sitting too long and staring at his monitor motionlessly. He had really thought the thing’s presence to bother him more, thinking back at how he had despised them only a few months back. Was it really that long ago? He never really gotten to terms with the tin-cans, but ever since Connor had left the force, he felt like they didn’t bother him as much. Maybe he had simply accommodated to this specific machine’s presence, too. It somehow was less of an annoyance as its predecessor had been. Maybe he just pitied the thing - thought it to be more human subconsciously. Or maybe it was its insecurity. It made it less the superior phcking terminator but a damaged thing that could never be a threat to Gavin or any other human being. Maybe it was the thing’s determination to stay with him, detective dickhead. He sighed again and washed out the Shampoo. After roughly drying himself and putting on a lose, oversized T-Shirt and some boxers he went to the kitchen to heat up some leftovers and pushed Fatty away who tried to snatch away some of it. As he walked back to the living room, the toaster sat on its claimed pot on the couch already, handing him a movie.  
‘Star Wars? Seriously?’  
 _> It has a lot of action in it and if my research is correct there is some music in it continuously used in media.<  
>You said you like music.<  
_‘Ha. The cantina-song isn’t a musical masterpiece, but I get why you thought of it after internet research. Yeah, I mean why not, let’s watch it.’  
Gavin put it in, before joining the android on the couch, picking up his food. Later the cats joined them and although Fatty tried to be diplomatic at first by jumping on top of Gavin, she soon joined Terminator on the android’s lap. ‘Man, I’m envious right now, toaster’, he laughed and continued to watch the screen. He made it a lot longer than last time, but he couldn’t stay awake for the whole film, gently snoring leaned against the armrest as the credits rolled.

RK900 had picked up some treats as the human was showering and used them to lure away both the cats from his lap. It was law not to move with a cat on him after all and he understood it now. He stood up, switching off the TV and gathering a blanket and pillow from the bedroom for the human, before he walked up to the window and downloaded more information on astronomy for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter:  
> Gavin and RK900 work on their case. Right before they can get too productive, Tina takes them out on a bar night.

**Author's Note:**

> For more stories, updates on the AO3 fic or just for a chat, feel free to check out my tumblr @fandom-necromancer!


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